Raymond Stock, the American writer and translator denied entry into Egypt this week, said the American embassy in Cairo is working to procure his entry. "The US Embassy in Cairo pursues its intensive efforts to resolve this situation," Stock said in an email response to Al-Masry Al-Youm. Stock was barred entry into the country at Cairo International Airport on Friday night. His deportation to the UK was ordered via a British airliner arriving from London. Last year, Stock severely criticized Egypt's Culture Minister Farouk Hosni, who subsequently lost a bid to head the UN's culture agency. "What's shocking is not just that Hosni has said these things (Israel is inhuman and an aggressive, racist, and arrogant culture, based on robbing other people's rights and the denial of such rights}, but that he is Egypt's culture minister--and even more scandalous, that he is the likely next head of UNESCO, the arm of the United Nations sworn to defend cultural diversity and international artistic cooperation," Stock wrote in Foreign Policy magazine. Currently an assistant professor of Arabic and Middle East Studies at Drew University, Stock has lived and worked in Egypt periodically since 1990, when he assumed the position of editor at American University in Cairo Press. He has also translated some major works of Egypt's Nobel Prize winning author Naguib Mahfouz. Hosni on Tuesday told Al-Masry Al-Youm that he had nothing to do with the decision to deny Stock entry, claiming attempts to link him with the issue were "stupid.” "I dearly love Egypt--and very much hope to return there soon," Stock said in the email. "For the time being I've decided not to make a detailed statement or respond to interview requests about my recent denial of entry into Egypt." "I can only say how grateful I am to the Embassy for treating my case as such a high priority," Stock added.
