Portland airport regrets detention of moroccan MPs
Morocco-USA, Local, 2/7/2004

Authorities of Portland international airport (Oregon, northwest) have officially expressed regret on the detainment last weekend of a Moroccan parliamentary delegation.

The executive director of the airport sent to speaker of the House of Representatives, Abdelouahed Radi, and to the members of the delegation, a letter voicing regret for the way the Moroccan MPs were treated and for their missing their flight.

Tom Riley, the U.S. ambassador to Morocco, also expressed early this week regret for the incident.

The seven members of the House of Representatives (lower parliament chamber), were boarding a flight Saturday morning when confusion over an unattended bag prompted additional searches of the delegation, causing them to miss their flight home. They were questioned by the FBI and the Transportation Security Administration.

Due to the language barrier, neither could understand the other. Communication became possible only after an Arabic translator was finally found.

The Moroccan deputies were on a goodwill tour in the US, sponsored by the American Council of Young Political Leaders, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit organization that is partly funded by the Department Of State.

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