LEAD: Obama drawn into Egypt travel ban for US nationals

Jan 26, 2012, 23:18 GMT

Cairo/Washington - Egypt has for weeks barred the son of a US Cabinet member and other US and European nationals from leaving the country, a situation that has even drawn US President Barack Obama into appeals to the Egyptian government.

Sam LaHood, a senior representative of the US International Republican Institute and the son of US Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, directs the International Republican Institute in Egypt.

He was informed that he could not leave the country, the Dubai-based Al Arabiya television reported Thursday.

A sister organization, the National Democratic Institute, also headquartered in Washington, said six of its employees in Egypt have been banned from travelling, including three Americans, The New York Times reported. Both groups work on promoting democracy around the world.

'Even up to the level of the president, we've been working on this issue,' State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told reporters Thursday in Washington.

The situation has been going on for weeks. In late December, Egyptian authorities raided 17 local and international human rights centres in a probe of alleged 'activities that do not comply with the law.' The two Washington-based institutes were among those targeted. Both receive US government money, CNN reported.

Nuland said property had also been confiscated and not returned, and that the US citizens have been questioned by Egyptian judges. Four or five Americans working for the organizations have 'gone to the airport and been not allowed to board the aircraft,' she said.

The spokesman for Egypt's general prosecutor's office, Adel Saeed, told CNN that the investigating judge had banned people from the International Republican Institute from traveling until the investigation of 'receiving foreign funding' is complete.

The Egyptian authorities said the group may have received illegal foreign funding and may have been operating in the country without government licenses.

In Washington, Nuland said the groups have been trying to register with the government but have had 'difficulty' in getting the Egyptian system to register them properly and allow them to operate.

In the December raids, prosecutors, accompanied by police officers, inspected the centres as part of investigation into whether the groups operated without licences and received foreign money without prior authorization from Egyptian authorities.

Last week, Obama had a phone call with Egyptian Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, the head of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, which has been ruling Egypt since leader Hosny Mubarak was forced to step down early in 2011.

'The president reinforced the importance of upholding universal principles and emphasizing the role that these organizations can play in civil society,' Nuland said.

Egypt's ruling military council has been hinting for months that the US may have been financing nonprofit human-rights groups and groups promoting democracy with the intent of destabilizing Egypt, which is the world's largest single recipient of US aid.

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