Though President Trump's highly controversial travel ban has been temporarily halted, Iranian musician Raam has pulled out of next month's SXSW in Austin, Texas for fear of being detained at the last minute.
As ABC reports, Raam was due to play with his post-punk band Hypernova — having played SXSW in 2000 and 2008 — but is hesitant to head over to the US under current circumstances.
"It was really exciting moment for us to finally be part of something that stands for inclusivity and acceptance and giving a different taste of music from all around the world," Raam said.
"After this whole up and down process it's been, 'What do we do?' Because one of my best friends was held, detained for 48 hours at JFK [airport]."
Raam is the only musician booked on SXSW from one of Trump's seven banned Muslim-majority countries, including Sudan, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Libya and Somalia.
The Tehran native lamented the ban, saying, "A lot of people [are] privileged and don't have to be bothered because of the colour of their skin.
"For a lot of us Middle Easterners who, regardless of if we're religious or not, or whatever personal beliefs we have, the sort of discriminations they come against us."
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