Va. Man Trapped in Egypt on U.S. No-Fly List

[sabra]

Source: CBS News/AP

Yahya Wehelie, 26, of Somali Descent, Spent 18 Months Studying in Yemen, Now Gov't Won't Let Him Home

(AP) A Virginia man said Wednesday he has been stuck in limbo in Egypt for the last six weeks, living in a cheap hotel and surviving on fast food after his name was placed on a U.S. no-fly list because of a trip to Yemen.

Yahya Wehelie, a 26-year-old Muslim who was born in Fairfax, Virginia to Somali parents, said he spent 18 months studying in Yemen and left in early May. The U.S. has been scrutinizing citizens who study in Yemen more closely since the man who tried to blow up a U.S.-bound airliner on Christmas was linked to an al Qaeda offshoot in Yemen.

Wehelie was returning to the U.S. with his brother Yusuf via Egypt on May 5 when Egyptian authorities stopped him from boarding his flight to New York. They told him the FBI wanted to speak with him.

He said he was then told by FBI agents in Egypt that his name was on a no-fly list because of people he met in Yemen and he could not board a U.S. airline or enter American airspace. His passport was canceled and a new one issued only for travel to the United States, which expires on Sept. 12. He does not have Somali citizenship.

Read more: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/06/17/world/main6590164.shtml?tag=cbsContent;cbsCarousel

[Solly Mack]

1. k/r

[sinkingfeeling]

2. Wasn't there a movie about a guy that lived at an airport because his passport was canceled?

[sabra]

3. "The Terminal" ?

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0362227/

[kestrel91316]

4. He needs to break some law in Egypt and request that for his punishment

he be deported back to his HOME, the US.

[jazzelle]

5. Hope he likes basboosa and dukka

i loved it.

[leveymg]

7. How were the jails?

That's where this guy is going to end up if he doesn't get the hell out of Egypt and back to the U.S. The question is, how?

I'm sure someone at the Embassy can arrange a flight in a nice, unmarked Gulfstream. There may be one layover on an adjoining island, however.

Technically, Dept of State and DHS can't prevent a US Citizen from reentering the US. The tough part, is getting here. He could fly to Mexico or a Central American country, take a bus north, and present himself at the border. The Canadians probably wouldn't let him on any flight landing up there.

[saigon68]

9. The Canadians fellate the US

I especially loved it when they sent the military "non-deployers" back in chains to EL CID </sarcasm>

[leveymg]

11. Apparently, they learned fellatio after 1976.

What's happened to this hemisphere? No one gets out with their heart and mind intact.

[Soylent Brice]

6. K&R

[tekisui]

8. This is really fucked up.

He is an American citizen barred from re-entry based solely on speculation. Then, he is told he can return if he agrees to spy on Muslim Americans.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations says that in Egypt, Weheli has been repeatedly interrogated by or on behalf of U.S. authorities and was told he could come back to America if he agreed to spy on other American Muslims.

Council director Nihad Awad told a news conference in Washington that the council has documented around a dozen similar cases of what he is calling "forced exile."

"We are witnessing what appears to be a new policy by the Obama administration of barring American citizens from coming home based on suspicions," said Nihad Awad.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x8578682

Two things. One, an American citizen has every right to return home, unless he is charged and convicted. Two, didn't we learn our lesson with trying to get people to spy on each other. Remember the double (triple) agent who killed 7 or 8 CIA agents in Afghanistan?

We are sliding more towards fascism every day.

[TheWatcher]

13. "Sliding More Towards?"

I'd say we've been there for quite awhile.

The product has been marketed masterfully.

It HAS Happened Here.

Most don't know it though.

Dancing With The Stars has preempted it.

[on point]

10. There are always boats

Before there were planes there was this invention called boats. It is still possible to travel aboard a freighter and arrive in the US. He just has to get to Europe, Asia or South America, where most of them set out for the US.

The real problem with the no fly list is the accusation of a crime and the punishment are one and the same, and there is no opportunity to defend oneself. Hell, you don't even know you are on it or why until they act.

Now dear Teaparty nut cases, that is an example of real tyranny!

[pitohui]

12. they have no right to do this, you can't refuse an american citizen right to re-enter america

my husband is no fly'd too so he always gets the extra screening, searches, etc. they can't refuse to allow him into the country, they can only detain him until they decide whether or not he's the guy of that name they're looking for

even if they thought he was the guilty party, they would not be able to leave him in the foreign country, they would have to arrange for his arrest etc.

if this story is true as reported, it's unbelievable, this kid claims he has already offered that the fbi can search him, take him back to america in shackles etc. to make sure the plane is safe, what more is he supposed to do?

there is no passenger boat service from egypt to usa, it's 2010!!!!