The State Department is coming under criticism this week for refusing to allow a prominent South African social scientist to enter the country. Adam Habib was scheduled to speak at the annual meeting of the American Sociological Association in New York, but the government has refused to give him a visa. Habib is executive director of the South Africa-based Human Science Research Council’s Program on Democracy and Governance. He is also a Muslim of Indian descent who has been a vocal critic of the war in Iraq. Last October Habib was detained when he arrived at a New York airport for a series of academic meetings in the United States. His visa was revoked without explanation, and he was put on a flight back to South Africa.