The World Association of Newspapers has condemned the expulsion of Egyptian free press advocate Gamal Eid from Jordan, where he was to take part in organisational meetings for a training course for journalists.

Mr Eid, Executive Director of the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information, was detained for six hours, prevented from entering Jordan, and deported to Egypt on 15 December. He arrived in Jordan from Beirut, Lebanon, after participating in WAN’s Arab Free Press Forum.

“Mr Eid’s expulsion once again shows that Jordanian authorities do not respect freedom of expression, despite their assertions to the contrary,” WAN said in a statement. “If Jordan truly supports press freedom, the authorities must stop harassing people merely for the ‘crime’ of speaking their minds.”

WAN, which represents 18,000 newspapers world-wide, called on Jordanian King Abdallah II to ensure that the authorities respect freedom of expression. The King has been quoted as saying, “freedom of expression in Jordan is limited only by the sky.”

Mr Eid contends he was deported because he has criticised the state of freedom of expression in Jordan, and because he refused to pay a bribe to be allowed to enter the country, where he was to take part in preparatory meetings for a training course for journalists.

Mr Eid has criticised Jordan’s lack of freedom of expression in a 2006 speech in Amman during a conference on media freedom in the Arab world.