Kjell Magne Bondevik describes shock after being held and questioned at Dulles hub under new US entry controls 
 
 A former prime minister of Norway has spoken of his shock after he was held and questioned at Washington Dulles airport because of a visit to Iran three years ago. 
 
 Kjell Magne Bondevik, who served as prime minister of Norway from 1997-2000 and 2001-05, flew into the US from Europe on Tuesday afternoon to attend this week’s National Prayer Breakfast. 
 
 He was held for an hour after customs agents saw in his diplomatic passport that he had been to Iran in 2014. Bondevik said his passport also clearly indicated that he was the former PM of Norway. 
 
 “Of course I fully understand the fear of letting terrorists come into this country,” he told ABC7. “It should be enough when they found that I have a diplomatic passport, [that I’m a] former prime minister. 
 
 
 
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 “That should be enough for them to understand that I don’t represent any problem or threat to this country and [to] let me go immediately, but they didn’t.” 
 
 Bondevik, who is the president of the Oslo Centre, a human rights organisation, said he was placed in a room with travellers from the Middle East and Africa who were also facing extra scrutiny. 
 
 He said he was ordered to wait for 40 minutes, before being questioned for another 20 minutes about his trip to Iran, which he had taken to speak at a human rights conference. 
 
 “I was surprised, and I was provoked,” he said. “What will the reputation of the US be if this happens not only to me, but also to other international leaders?” 
 
 
 
 An executive order signed by Donald Trump last week temporarily bans all travellers from seven Muslim-majority countries – Iran, Iraq, Libya, Yemen, Syria, Sudan and Somalia – from entering the US. It also suspends the US refugee resettlement programme for 120 days and puts an indefinite stop to the acceptance of Syrian refugees. 
 
 The order caused chaos at airports across the US and sparked protests and worldwide condemnation. Many people who were en route to the US when the order was hastily signed, including those with green cards, were detained on arrival at US airports, denied boarding on to US-bound flights, or taken off planes by security officials before takeoff. 
 
 Bondevik said Dulles officials told him he had been detained because of a 2015 law signed by Barack Obama that placed restrictions on travellers from those seven countries, or travellers from elsewhere who had recently visited those countries. 
 
 But he said he had never had a problem visiting the US before, and that his office was told by the US embassy in Oslo before his trip that his passport and a separate electronic travel authorisation were all he needed. 
 
 
 
 Speaking to the TV2 channel, Bondevik expressed further concern about the Trump administration’s tactics. “I understand the fear of terror, but one should not treat entire ethnic groups in such a way,” he said. 
 
 “I must admit that I fear the future. There has been a lot of progress over the last 10 years, but this gives great cause for concern, in line with the authoritarian leaders we see controlling other major countries.” 
 
 A spokesperson for US Customs and Border Protection said it was prohibited by law from discussing specifics of any individual’s admissibility review. 
 
 On Friday, Iran took retaliatory action by banning US wrestlers from participating in the Freestyle World Cup, one of the most prestigious competitions in international wrestling. 
 
 The IRNA news agency quoted Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman, Bahram Ghasemi, as saying a special committee reviewed the case and “eventually the visit by the US freestyle wrestling team was opposed”. 
 
 Ghasemi said the policy of the new US administration left Iran no other choice but to ban the wrestlers. ||||| A former prime minister of Norway tells ABC7 he was questioned and prevented from leaving Dulles Airport for about an hour Tuesday, apparently because he had visited Iran in 2014. 
 
 Kjell Magne Bondevik served as prime minister of Norway two separate times, from 1997-2000 and 2001-2005. 
 
 He flew into Dulles Airport from Europe Tuesday afternoon and says he was not immediately allowed to leave after customs agents saw in his passport that he had been to Iran. 
 
 He showed ABC7 that his passport also indicates he is the former prime minister of Norway, a U.S. ally. 
 
 "Of course I fully understand the fear of letting terrorists come into this country," Bondevik told ABC7 outside the Washington Hilton Wednesday night. 
 
 But, he said, it should have been obvious he's not a terrorist. 
 
 "It should be enough when they found that I have a diplomatic passport, [that I'm a] former prime minister," Bondevik said. "That should be enough for them to understand that I don't represent any problem or threat to this country and [to] let me go immediately, but they didn't." 
 
 Instead, Bondevik says he was placed in a room with travelers from the Middle East and Africa who were also facing extra scrutiny. He says he had to sit and wait for about 40 minutes, and then he was questioned for about 20 minutes regarding a trip to Iran in 2014. 
 
 Bondevik is president of a human rights organization called The Oslo Center, and in 2014 he went to Iran to speak at a human rights conference there. 
 
 Although President Trump's controversial temporary travel ban has led to extra scrutiny of many travelers in the past week, Bondevik says he was told the scrutiny he received had nothing to do with it. Instead, it was related to a 2015 law signed by President Obama. 
 
 The law was signed in the wake of terrorist attacks in California and Paris and was aimed at protecting the U.S. from terrorists. 
 
 It places extra restrictions on some citizens from 38 countries -- including Norway -- that are part of the U.S.'s Visa Waiver Program. 
 
 Citizens of those countries normally do not need a visa to visit the U.S. for up to 90 days, but because of the law they now do need a visa if they have been to Iran, Iraq, Sudan, Syria, Libya, Somalia or Yemen since March 2011. Those are the same seven countries Trump included in his temporary travel ban. 
 
 The Department of Homeland Security's website says there are exceptions to the 2015 law that are granted on a case-by-case basis. Those exceptions include people who have traveled to Iran or the other six countries on behalf of international or regional organizations. 
 
 Bondevik says his office contacted the U.S. Embassy in Oslo prior to his trip this week and was told his passport and a separate electronic travel authorization (called ESTA) would be sufficient to enter the United States. 
 
 "I was surprised, and I was provoked," he said about being set aside for questioning. "What will the reputation of the U.S. be if this happens not only to me, but also to other international leaders?" 
 
 A spokesperson with U.S. Customs and Border Protection says "CBP is prohibited by privacy laws from discussing specifics of any individual’s admissibility review." 
 
 Bondevik says he contacted the Norwegian Embassy in D.C. after what happened. A spokesperson said the embassy was "happy that things were sorted out." 
 
 ABC7 was told by a source that a wait of an hour is not considered unusual for people entering the country who receive "secondary examinations." 
 
 Bondevik came to the United States to attend Thursday morning's National Prayer Breakfast at the Washington Hilton.
– A former prime minister of Norway was caught up in the chaos at US airports this week, though it's not clear which president's actions caused the issue. Kjell Magne Bondevik, the country's PM from 1997 to 2000 and 2001 to 2005, flew from Europe to DC's Dulles airport Tuesday to attend the National Prayer Breakfast—and was detained for an hour, the Guardian reports. The problem? Customs agents looked at his passport and saw he traveled to Iran in 2014. He says officials told him he was being held because of a law then-President Obama signed in 2015 that requires citizens of certain countries (including Norway) to have a visa to enter the US if they've visited specific countries (like Iran) since 2011. But there are exceptions (ABC 7 explains in greater depth), and Bondevik says he's never before experienced any trouble coming into the US with that passport stamp. Further, his office checked with the US embassy in Oslo before this trip to ensure he would have no issues. Bondevik tells ABC 7 he possesses a diplomatic passport, which clearly states that he is the former PM of Norway. "Of course I fully understand the fear of letting terrorists come into this country," he says, but "it should be enough when they found ... [I'm a] former prime minister." He says he was made to wait for 40 minutes, then questioned for 20 minutes about the Iran trip, which he took so he could speak at a human rights conference. Though Bondevik wasn't quoted mentioning President Trump by name, he had this to say: "I fear the future," he tells the Local. "This gives great cause for concern, in line with the authoritarian leaders we see controlling other major countries."