Egyptian journalist missing after deportation

Hassan al-Banna is missing after being detained by the National Security Agency at the Cairo airport.

JOHANNESBURG, April 20 (ANA) – Egyptian journalist Hassan al-Banna is missing after being detained by the National Security Agency upon his arrival at Cairo airport on Sunday evening following his deportation by Jordanian authorities, according to The New Arab.

The publication reported on Tuesday that Al-Banna was detained in 2018 on charges of membership of a terrorist group and spreading false news.

Independent Egyptian online newspaper Mada Masr quoted the director of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR), Hossam Bahgat, as saying that the human rights organisation tried to prevent Al-Banna’s deportation to Cairo and received assurances from several Jordanian government and intelligence officials that he would not be sent back to Egypt.

“In the long hours that Banna spent at Amman airport from around 10pm on Friday until 6pm on Sunday, Jordanian officials attempted several times to pressure Banna to accept deportation to Egypt,” Mada Masr quoted Bahgat as saying.

“This makes it likely that Egyptian security officials asked their Jordanian counterparts to deport Banna, although we don’t have confirmation of that.”

Abdelrahman Fares, Al-Banna’s brother, wrote in a Facebook post about the ordeal on Monday.

“My younger brother Hassan Al-Banna Mubarak was officially exited from Cairo airport on Friday, April 16, and he headed to Jordan as a country that accepts Egyptians’ entry without a prior visa, but Jordan’s security authorities did not accept his entry, and refused any middle solutions that are in favour of his travel to another country.”

He added that the family of Al-Banna hold the Egyptian security authorities fully responsible for his psychological and physical well-being, and hold the Jordanian authorities equally responsible for their participation in the crime of extradition.

– African News Agency (ANA); Editing by Yaron Blecher