Prominent columnist known as moderate Islamist put on no-fly list, barred from leaving Egypt

CAIRO – Security officials say a prominent Egyptian columnist has been barred from boarding an international flight at the Cairo airport.

Fahmi Huwaidi, a widely read moderate Islamist columnist who has written for Qatar-based Arabic website Al-Jazeera and Egyptian newspaper El-Shorouk, discovered he was on a no-fly list Friday when he tried to board a plane bound for Spain.

Officials said he was allowed to return home without further incident. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to journalists.

Huwaidi has criticized the ouster of President Mohammed Morsi last July and the ongoing crackdown on his Islamist supporters.

The Committee to Protect Journalists expressed "deep concern" about press freedom in Egypt, where at least 16 journalists are detained and six have been killed since July.