Second Sudanese journalist barred from entering Egypt

A second Sudanese journalist has been barred from entering Egypt and ordered to leave Cairo despite having valid entry documents, the Sudan Tribune reported.

Journalist Iman Kamaladeen, from the Sudani newspaper, returned to Sudan’s capital yesterday after being refused entry despite the fact she had been invited to take part in a training course in the Egyptian capital. She arrived back in Sudan at three o’clock in the morning.

Kamaladeen is the second journalist in as many days to be stopped at the airport, to be detained for some hours, denied entry and asked to leave. On Sunday, veteran journalist Al-Tahir Satti was told that his name appeared on a blacklist of the Egyptian intelligence services but was not told the exact reason why he was prevented from entering Egypt.

In this latest incident, the managing editor of the Sudani, Artif Mukhtar, told Sharouq Television a number of articles written by his colleague on the creation of an Egyptian military base in Ethiopia could be the most likely reason Kamaladeen’s name was added to the “no entry” blacklist.

Mukhtar added that yesterday, the day of Kamaladeen’s barred entry, the Sudani newspaper had published information quoting sources who alleged the Sudanese Embassy in Cairo was putting together a list that would prevent Egyptian journalists from entering Sudan in response to the deportation, on Sunday, of Satti.

Sudan’s Ambassador to Egypt, Abdul-Mahmoud Abdel Halim, is reported to have spoken to the Egyptian foreign office to express Sudan’s concerns about the deportations. “These events directly conflict with the spirit of the latest visit by Egypt’s Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry to Khartoum,” he said.

In a statement, released following the expulsion of Satti, the Sudanese Journalist Union (SJU) condemned the Egyptian authorities’ actions as “arbitrary measures” and accused Egypt of undermining efforts by the joint Sudanese-Egyptian political consultation committee which agreed last week to stop negative media or diplomatic hostilities.