Denied entry

Syrian who worked on Oscar nominated ‘White Helmets’ cannot attend ceremony.

WaShInGTOn: US immigration authorities are barring entry to a 21-year-old Syrian cinematographer who worked on a harrowing film about his nation’s civil war, The White Helmets, that has been nominated for an Academy Award.

According to internal Trump administration correspondence, the Department of Homeland Security has decided at the last minute to block Khaled Khateeb from traveling to Los Angeles for the Oscars.

Khateeb was scheduled to arrive yesterday in Los Angeles on a Turkish Airlines from Istanbul, but his plans have been upended after US officials reported finding “derogatory information” regarding Khateeb.

“Derogatory information” is a broad category that can include anything from terror connections to passport irregularities.

A spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security, Gillian Christensen, said: “A valid travel document is required for travel to the United States.”

The White Helmets, a 40-minute Netflix documentary, has been nominated for Best Documentary Short.

Khateeb is one of three people credited for cinematography.

The film focuses on the rescue workers who risk their lives to save Syrians affected by civil war.

Many of the group’s members have been killed by Syrian President Bashar Assad’s air forces.

The group was nominated for last year’s Nobel Peace Prize.

The White Helmets includes scenes of the deadly six-year-old conflict: people digging through destroyed homes looking for survivors, at constant risk of “double tap” attacks that target first respond- ers after they’ve arrived at the scene of a strike.

Khateeb had been issued a visa, but Turkish authorities detained him this week, according to the internal US government correspondence, and he suddenly needed a passport waiver from the United States to enter the country.

Khateeb said he was currently in Istanbul and had not been detained.

And a posting on the White Helmets Twitter account said: “Not allowed to leave Turkey because passport not issued by Damascus,” according to the tweet.