State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland suggested that the Americans banned from leaving Egpyt “are being persecuted in the Egyptian judicial system,” as she rejected the idea that the United States government is “helping them skirt Egyptian law” by avoiding arrest warrants.
“I said that we do not feel that they are in physical danger at the moment,” Nuland told reporters during today’s press briefing. “That is a different matter than whether they are being persecuted in the Egyptian judicial system.”
Nuland offered the distinction between “physical danger” and judicial persecution when a reporter reminded her that the Foreign Service Manual “says the government will not approve requests for temporary refuge if the requesting U.S. citizen would not be in danger of serious harm,” except in “narrow circumstances.”
Arrest warrants may be issued by the Egyptian government for the American citizens, according to CNN.
