Egypt detains, expels U.S. journalist

CAIRO — Egyptian officials detained a New York Times correspondent after he arrived in Cairo on Monday, holding him incommunicado for hours before forcing him onto a flight back to London without explanation.

The move against the correspondent, David D. Kirkpatrick, is an escalation of a crackdown against the news media under Egypt’s leader, President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi.

Egyptian journalists have borne the brunt of el-Sissi’s repression, with dozens imprisoned or forced into exile.

Kirkpatrick, 48, was Cairo bureau chief for The New York Times from 2011 to 2015 and is the author of a recent book on Egypt, Into the Hands of the Soldiers. He was detained by security officials upon arrival at the Cairo airport Monday night.

Hours later, after being officially denied entry to the country, Kirkpatrick’s phone was confiscated and he was held without food or water for seven hours.

On Tuesday morning, Egyptian officials escorted him onto an EgyptAir flight back to London. An air marshal held his passport until the plane touched down at Heathrow Airport.

Egyptian authorities gave no explanation for their actions. Sam Werberg, a spokesman for the U.S. Embassy in Cairo, said: “We’re concerned about reports of the unexplained refusal of entry to Egypt of a U.S. citizen New York Times journalist. We have raised our concerns with Egyptian officials.”

Michael Slackman, international editor of The New York Times, said, “We are deeply disturbed that the government of Egypt detained our correspondent, kept him incommunicado, denied him food or water and refused to allow him into the country.”