CAIRO: A Lebanese blogger was denied entry into Egypt on Monday, the SKeyes Center for Media and Cultural Freedoms said in a statement. According to the organization, he was barred from entering Egypt due to alleged links with jailed Egyptian blogger Maikel Nabil Sanad, who is currently serving a three-year jail sentence for criticizing the military. Imad Bazzi's name “was on a list of people banned from entering at the request of a security apparatus,” said the official. Upon his arrival in the early morning, he was stopped by security officials, who forced him to return to Beirut on an afternoon flight. The SKeyes Centre for Media and Cultural Freedoms issued a statement saying that Bazzi was “detained in the airport by Egypt's National Security” until he was deported. The statement continued to say that information obtained from local activists and bloggers revealed that the ban on Bazzi was likely due to his meeting with Egyptian blogger Sanad when the latter was preparing a documentary on Egypt's uprising. Reporters Without Borders (RSP) released a statement on Saturday calling for the release of an Egyptian blogger who was sentenced three years in jail. The blogger Mikael Nabil Sanad began his hunger strike on the August 23 and has since garnered media attention. He has also recently stopped drinking, leading the RWB to fear that he may soon die. “The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces would have to take full responsibility. Held for exercising his right to freedom of expression,” the statement read. “Sanad must not become the symbol of a repressive and unjust post-Mubarak Egypt.” Sanad was convicted in April by the military court on charges of insulting the armed forces. This has prompted US lawmakers to write letters to the Egyptian military ruler, Mohammed Hussein Tantawi, demanding his release. The military has denied Nabil's status as a “prisoner of conscience” stating that he has the right to appeal his conviction. Bazzi writes Trella.org blog since 1998, and he is the executive director of CyberACT organization for Internet activists. BM
