Jan 6, 2015

CAIRO — Egyptian authorities are increasingly denying foreign human rights activists entry to the country. Cairo has created security watch lists of undeclared visits of figures who oppose the Egyptian regime. Most recently, on Dec. 13, 2014, entry was denied at the Cairo airport to Michele Dunne, a senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, who was set to attend a conference. On Aug. 4, 2013, Egyptian authorities denied entry to Yemeni activist Tawakkol Karman.

Egyptian travelers also complained of being unable to travel to Turkey without prior authorization from Egyptian security authorities. In addition, Cairo imposed new measures to restrict residents from traveling to ​Qatar, Iraq, Libya and Syria.

The Egyptian Interior Ministry said this last set of restrictions are limited to countries where war has broken out, such as Syria and Iraq. The ministry added Turkey to the list as a way to limit the recruitment of Egyptians into extremist groups. Furthermore, Egypt wants to prevent members of the Islamic State (IS) and Jabhat al-Nusra from entering the country, so Cairo’s airport is thoroughly examining the papers of travelers coming from these countries.

However, Egyptian officials failed to explain why stable Qatar had been added to the list. It is well known that Qatar and Turkey oppose the current Egyptian regime and see its rise to power as the result of a coup. The two countries also support the Muslim Brotherhood, which Cairo declared a terrorist group, holding it responsible for the violence that occurred after the ousting of President Mohammed Morsi.

A source from EgyptAir told Al-Monitor that four flights depart Cairo daily for Istanbul (two EgyptAir flights and two from Turkey-based airlines). On condition of anonymity, the source said, “Indeed, airport security stops and investigates Egyptian passengers between the ages of 20 and 40. They do not allow them to board unless they have prior authorization provided by Cairo’s security authorities, represented by the Interior Ministry.”