US lifts travel ban on Albania’s opposition leader

Former Albanian leader Sali Berisha, now the head of the main opposition party, said on ​Friday that the United States has lifted a ‌travel ban placed on him in 2021.

The U.S. State Department had barred Berisha - a former president and prime minister who steered the ​Balkan country after the fall of communism ​in the early 1990s - and his immediate family ⁠from entering the country, saying he had been involved ​in "corrupt acts" including misappropriation of public funds and using ​his power to enrich relatives.

"As of yesterday, after a thorough review of my case by the State Department, my family and ​I are no longer deprived of the possibility of ​travel to the United States," Berisha, 81, said on Facebook.

"An unfair ‌decision ⁠of the previous U.S. administration against me and my family was corrected," the leader of the opposition Democratic Party said.

A spokesperson for the U.S. State Department told ​Reuters the ​department "issued waivers for ⁠several 7031(c) designations imposed under the previous administration because granting the waivers serves ​a compelling national interest."

The spokesperson did not ​name the ⁠persons who were granted the waivers. The decision comes amid mass protests in Albania against the development of a ⁠luxury ​resort planned by U.S. President Donald Trump's ​son-in-law, Jared Kushner.

-Reuters