Monday, August 27, 2012

Ahhh, the "New" Egypt: Egypt deports Bahrain activist Mariam al-Khawaja from country



Bikya Masr

"CAIRO: Leading Bahrain activist Mariam al-Khawaja was deported from Egypt on Sunday after arriving at the Cairo International Airport after her name was on a list of persons not allowed into the country, officials were quoted as saying by the official MENA news agency.

The report said the female activist was on an “airport entrance ban” put forward by Egypt’s security forces.

She was deported Sunday night to Copenhagen, Denmark, al-Ahram newspaper reported.

The woman, however, is a leading human rights activist and the foreign relations chief of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights. The rights organization has come into international headlines after numerous members have been arrested and put on trial in Bahrain for pushing for change in the small gulf kingdom.

The rights organization was originally founded by Khawaja’s father, Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja, who is now serving a life sentence in Bahrain for “crimes against the state.”

The woman had visited Egypt in April, but was nearly deported then as well, local reports said, but was eventually allowed into the country by security forces at the airport."

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