Bahraini rights activist Al-Khawaja banned from entering Egypt

ahram.org

Bahraini rights activist Mariam Al-Khawaja

on Sunday was banned from entering Egypt after arriving at Cairo International Airport, where authorities have informed her that she is to be deported. Security sources at the airport told Egyptian state news agency MENA that Al-Khawaja's name had been put on the airport's entrance-ban list by Egyptian security authorities. The activist is expected to be deported to Copenhagen, Denmark on Sunday evening. Al-Khawaja is a prominent Bahraini human rights activist and head of the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights (BCHR)'s foreign relations office. The BCHR was originally founded by her father, Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja, who is currently serving a life sentence in Bahrain for so-called crimes against the state. Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja's case drew international attention in February of this year when he launched a hunger strike to protest his ongoing detention. During a previous visit to Egypt in April, Mariam had come close to being deported, but Cairo airport security had ended up allowing her entry into the country at the last minute.