Several Americans banned from leaving Egypt

PanARMENIAN.Net - Egypt has banned the son of U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood and a number of other Americans from leaving the country as tensions rise over moves by Egyptian authorities to restrict the work of international rights organizations.

The State Department's top human right official, Michael Posner, told reporters in Cairo that the apparent campaign against pro-democracy groups raised concerns about Egypt's transition to democracy after Hosni Mubarak's ouster and warned it could affect future assistance to Egypt, one of the largest recipients of U.S. aid.

Sam LaHood, who heads the International Republican Institute in Egypt, was recently kept from boarding a flight out of Egypt. LaHood's father, a former congressman from Illinois, is transportation secretary and the most prominent Republican in President Barack Obama's administration.

The IRI was one of 10 organizations raided last month by Egyptian security forces, who carried off computers and boxes of files and interrogated staff members. The U.S. and the U.N. denounced the raids, but the Egypt defended them as part of a legitimate investigation into whether the groups were operating legally in Egypt.

Posner, who was in Cairo as part of a regional tour, did not give specifics about the Americans who have been barred from leaving Egypt, but he linked it to cases being investigated by Egyptian courts, AP reported.