Re: Egypt’s latest Outrage
The following is a letter to the editor submitted by the Embassy to the New York Times regarding their editorial board’s recent commentary.
Your editorial on December 15th, 2014 Egypt’s latest Outrage is entirely misinformed. Ms. Michelle Dunne was not denied entry to Egypt on security grounds. An official statement, issued on the same day, by the Egyptian ministry of foreign affairs explicitly stated that she was in violation of the visa requirements. The details of the matter are as follows.
The Egyptian laws and statutes stipulate in no unclear terms that only tourist visas can be issued at the Egyptian ports-of-entry. Business visas, without exception, have to be pre-obtained from the Egyptian embassies. Ms. Dunne contacted the embassy on December 8th, and was made aware of the visa requirements. She applied on December 10th, but failed to provide a passport photograph nor pay the required fees. Upon being notified by the consular staff that she needs to complete her application process, and that the processing time of the visa is 10 days, she requested to withdraw her passport, and travelled to Egypt on the same day. Clearly, she decided to take her chances at the airport, hoping to get a tourist visa, and do her business in Cairo, attending a conference (an invitation to which, she had received two months earlier, on October 15th, giving her more than enough time to apply and get the proper visa). She was denied entry for failing to comply with the visa requirements.
Ms. Dunne’s views, research interests or scholarly distinction are irrelevant to the issue at hand. Anyone visiting Egypt on business, however distinguished he/she might be, must respect Egyptian laws and regulations should they wish to enter Egypt. I trust that you will agree that this requirement is not in any way unusual or unreasonable, nor is it at all something that only Egypt requires. Violation of the U.S. visa requirements and/or laws, for instance, results in the immediate denial of entry to the U.S., and entry upon false pretense (e.g. conducting business after entering on a tourist visa) is liable to prosecution. Egypt is entitled to the same right to respect its sovereignty and laws.
On the other hand, it is worth noting that no attempt was made to contact the embassy or the ministry of foreign affairs to inquire about the matter. Instead, the case in your said editorial was built entirely on “unnamed sources”, apparently choosing not to bother with anything as tedious as facts. One cannot help but wonder if this is in keeping with the tradition of your biased reporting on Egypt, which is based almost exclusively on “unnamed sources”, or on some occasions, on named sources that were not consulted. The report published today by “imedia ethics” documents several such cases[1]. You are denying your readership their right to professional and factual reporting, and you only have yourself to blame for the ensuing loss of credibility in Egypt and the Arab World.
Sincerely,
Mohamed Tawfik
Ambassador of the Arab Republic of Egypt to the United States
3521 International Court, NW.
Washington, DC 20008.