Egypt refuses to let Dempsey take detained Americans with him, Calling Sam Lahood the 'prime suspect.'

Egypt refuses to let Dempsey take detained Americans with him, Calling Sam Lahood the 'prime suspect.'(IsraelMatzav).During a visit earlier this month, US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Martin Dempsey attempted to obtain the release of 19 Americans being held in Egypt on charges of promoting democracy. Dempsey even attempted to take them with him on his private plane but to no avail. "It appears that General Dempsey urged Egyptian officials he met to release the accused Americans and allow them to leave the country, so they may be tried in absentia," the Al-Ahram report said."The next day, the American request was even more persistent, with Dempsey saying he wanted to accompany the Americans on his private plane," said the report by a senior editor of the government's flagship newspaper.Al-Ahram reported that the officials who met Dempsey told him the case was a judicial matter and only a court could lift the travel ban on the suspects.
After the meetings, Dempsey's spokesperson had said the general brought up the charges against the 19 Americans, workers with NGOs accused of receiving illicit foreign funding, but refused to elaborate on the discussions.The prime suspect in the case is Sam LaHood, the son of US Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. He heads the Egyptian chapter of the International Republican Institute, one of the American NGOs implicated in the case.
Ray LaHood told US broadcaster CBS on Friday that "there are a lot of people in our government, really top officials in our government, working night and day to resolve this issue," according to CBS's website.Hmmmm..........."Prime Suspect" doesn't sound good.Read the full story here.