Cairo: 20 February 2019

The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI) said today that Cairo Airport authorities’ detention of New York Times correspondent David Kirkpatrick barring him from entering the country is a new episode of police practices entrenched in the hostility towards freedom of the press and scrambling to move in a path that is against the rule of law and democracy.

David Kirkpatrick, a reporter at the American “New York Times” newspaper, arrived at Cairo International Airport on Monday, February 18. He had been detained for several hours before he was expelled and sent back on a flight to London, despite the fact that he is not involved in any case and doesn’t face any charges, which constitutes a new evidence that Cairo airport has turned into a police trap, either to ban Egyptian critics from traveling outside the country or ban foreign critics from entering the country.

Kirkpatrick being denied entry to Egypt brings to mind the incidents when many activists and human rights defenders were also banned from entering the country; such as Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch, the Egyptian-German activist Atef Botros, Tunisian writer Amal al-Qarami, and many others. In the meantime, the door is widely open for tyranny supporters, including those fleeing international justice, such as Sudanese dictator Omar al-Bashir and others.

It’s worth mentioning that Kirkpatrick, 48, was Cairo bureau chief for The New York Times from 2011 to 2015 and is the author of a recent book on Egypt, “Into the Hands of the Soldiers.”

The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI) said: “We have become expecting any sort of violation by these authorities, and we believe that the detention and deportation of journalist David Kirkpatrick came against the backdrop of publishing his recent book about Egypt, not to mention the Egyptian government’s hostility towards the well known American newspaper that publishes views critical of the police measures carried out by the Egyptian authorities.”

ANHRI added: “The policy of repression and gagging mouths and the siege of freedom of expression didn’t- and will not- create a free country. We have not heard of democracy or freedoms that have ravaged a country; countries are rather ravaged by tyranny, repression and the curbing of freedoms. ”

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