Support for Glasgow vet barred from the US
Dr Tayari joined the University of Glasgow as a resident in veterinary anaesthesia in November 2015.
There has been an outpouring of support for Glasgow veterinary surgeon Dr Hamaseh Tayari, who was prevented from flying to the US under Donald Trump’s executive order, which bars citizens from several countries.
Dr Tayari, who holds an Iranian passport, had been due to fly home from a holiday in Costa Rica via New York on Saturday (28 January), but was told she could not fly to the US because of the order.
She was instead forced to fly from San Jose to Madrid and on to London and Glasgow, at a cost of nearly £2,600 which she told BBC News was “all our money for the next few months”. She said she was left feeling “upset” and “a little bit afraid”.
Since then an appeal has raised £6,175 - more than double the amount she needed to get home, much of it in only a few hours. The remainder of the money is being donated to the Scottish Refugee Council.
Dr Tayari graduated as a vet from the University of Pisa in Italy in 2012, and was subsequently offered a grant to complete her PhD. She joined the University of Glasgow as a resident in veterinary anaesthesia in November 2015 and is studying for a European Diploma in Veterinary Anaesthesia and Analgesia.
In a statement, Professor Anton Muscatelli, principal of the University of Glasgow, said he was “both concerned and appalled” that Dr Tayari had been prevented from travelling.
“Concerned for the safety and well being of a young woman who, through no fault of her own, was stranded in Central America,” he explained. “Appalled because the reason for her predicament was not because she had done something wrong. Not because she was a danger to the security of the United States. But simply because she holds an Iranian passport. Though like me she was brought up in Italy, her family having moved after the Iranian Revolution when she was just two years old.”
The 90-day travel ban imposed by President Trump affects nationals from Syria, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen.
Dr Tayari’s colleagues from the university made contact with her to offer support and let her and the wider world know “that our university maintains and cherishes values that we will not compromise upon,” Prof Muscatelli added. “The free movement of people, of ideas, of intellect is surely the very hallmark of civilized society.”
Prof Muscatelli said he was “hugely impressed” at how Dr Tayari coped with the situation, but also with the “huge outpouring of support” across Scotland and the UK. Twitter messages and emails to the university have expressed outrage and offers of help from the public.
“All of this, I know, has greatly touched and heartened Hamaseh. I think it also confirms what we all like to believe is true. In this country we value individuals for what they are and the worth they bring, not for the stamp on their passport, the colour of their skin or the religion they practise.”
Defra has published guidance for the vet sector ahead of a proposed UK-EU Sanitary and Phytosanitary agreement.
