US probes visa issued to member of banned terrorist group in Egypt

Associated Press

WASHINGTON

The State Department said Friday it is looking into how a self-professed member of a banned Egyptian terrorist organization was issued a U.S. visa and traveled to Washington this week for meetings with senior Obama administration officials.

Spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said the “circumstances of this particular case” were being reviewed. She declined to discuss specifics, citing privacy laws, but said the department is trying to better understand how and why Hani Nour Eldin was granted a visa and had meetings with officials at the White House and State Department.

Eldin, a recently elected member of Egypt’s parliament, was one of six Egyptian legislators invited to visit Washington by the Woodrow Wilson Center think tank for discussions about the current political situation in Egypt. However, Eldin also has identified himself as a member of Gamaa Islamiya, or the Egyptian Islamic Group, which the State Department has designated a “foreign terrorist organization.”