(Adds Iraqi family, refugee in Lebanon, legal background)
* Appeal court denies request for immediate stay
* Trump says "For the safety of the country, we'll win"
* Some travelers take advantage of newly reopened window
* Iraqi refugee in Lebanon waits for word from U.N.
By Yeganeh Torbati and Tom Perry
WASHINGTON/BEIRUT, Feb 5 (Reuters) - A U.S. appeal court late on Saturday denied a request from the U.S. Department of Justice to immediately restore a immigration order from President Donald Trump barring citizens from seven mainly Muslim countries and temporarily banning refugees.
The court ruling dealt a further setback to Trump, who has denounced the judge in the state of Washington who blocked his executive order on Friday. In tweets and comments to reporters, the president has insisted he will get the ban reinstated.
Trump says the temporary immigration restrictions on citizens from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen, and on all refugees, are necessary to protect the United States from Islamist militants. Critics say they are unjustified and discriminatory.
The judge's order and the appeal ruling have created what may be a short-lived opportunity for travelers from the seven affected countries to get into the United States while the legal uncertainty continues.
In a brief order, the appeals court said the government's request for an immediate administrative stay on the Washington judge's decision had been denied. It was awaiting further submissions from Washington and Minnesota states on Sunday, and from the government on Monday.
The government's appeal says the decision by judge James Robart in Washington poses an immediate harm to the public, thwarts enforcement of an executive order and "second-guesses the president's national security judgment about the quantum of risk posed by the admission of certain classes of (non-citizens) and the best means of minimizing that risk".
Trump denounced the "so-called" judge in a series of tweets on Saturday and told reporters: "We'll win. For the safety of the country, we'll win."
IRAQI FAMILY
The president's Jan. 27 order has drawn criticism even from U.S. allies and created chaos for thousands of people who have, in some cases, spent years seeking asylum in the United States.
Iraqi Fuad Sharef, together with his wife and three children, spent two years obtaining U.S. visas, and had packed up to move to America last week, but were turned back to Iraq after a failed attempt to board a U.S.-bound flight from Cairo.
On Sunday, the family checked in for a Turkish Airlines flight to New York from Istanbul.