Washington expelled 250 Egyptians since October 11 incidents

A naval source at Cairo's airport said on Wednesday that statistics confirmed that the US has expelled 250 Egyptians since the September 11, 2001 attacks against the US because of their violations of the immigration laws.

The source added that the majority of the expelled are young men who were detained and interrogated after the attacks, and the duration of their arrests ranged between 2 to 6 months. It stressed that "all of those persons had violated the immigration conditions and this resulted in detaining and arresting them." The source concluded that the expelled Egyptians arrived in different shifts with each composed of four persons, escorted by members of the FBI.

The Egyptian minister of the Interior Lt. Gen. Habib al-Adli confirmed in mid March that Egyptian citizens arrested by the American forces (in Afghanistan) are held in the American Guantanamo base in Cuba.

He told the Egyptian daily al-Ahram that the US authorities recently arrested "several Egyptian terrorists who belong to al-Qaida organization and are currently investigated in Guantanamo US base in Cuba."