Cairo: A Bahraini rights activist wrote to Egypt’s president on Tuesday, complaining that she and other pro-democracy campaigners from her country were denied entry, charging that the policy is a holdover from the deposed Egyptian regime.
Mariam Al Khawaja, acting president of the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights, was refused entry into Egypt on Sunday. Security officials cited unexplained “top security reasons.”
In her letter to President Mohammad Mursi, she said she and another prominent activist now in prison in Bahrain had difficulty entering Egypt earlier this year. She said intelligence services working for deposed President Hosni Mubarak used to harass Bahrain’s activists.
Mariam said she was disappointed such harassment continued in post-Mubarak Egypt.
She wrote to Mursi, “How can such blatant disregard for the law and basic human dignities continue under your watch?”
Activists say while Mubarak has been removed, his security agencies and their policies remain unchanged. Mursi has also sought to calm nervous Gulf neighbours by saying his country won’t seek to “export” its revolution.
Mariam said security officials tried to intimidate her after she and her lawyer demanded an explanation for the barring. The officials told her she would be deported to Bahrain, where there is an arrest warrant against her, she said.
She eventually travelled to her next destination, South Africa, without entering Egypt.
She was denied entry into Egypt initially in April, but was later allowed in after lawyers intervened. She said in her letter that security officials told her she was allowed in then because there were protests in Egypt at the time, and authorities apparently feared a backlash if she were turned away.
Soon after, Mariam’s colleague Nabeel Rajab was denied entry into Egypt and deported back to Bahrain. He was arrested in Bahrain a month later and is in prison serving a three-year sentence for his role in allegedly encouraging protesters in Bahrain to clash with security forces.
