Egypt’s airport authorities have barred two members of Qatar’s royal family from entering the country as they did not carry a visa, state news agency MENA said.

The men, identified by MENA as Khalifa bin Jassim bin Ahmed and his brother Hamad, were stopped at Cairo International Airport yesterday (September 11) morning upon their arrival from London for not carrying a pre-issued travel visa, said a report in the Gulf Daily News (GDN), our sister publication.

The two were sent back on the same flight.

Ties between Egypt and Qatar have soured since the Egyptian army’s removal of Islamist president Mohamed Mursi last summer.

Doha has criticised an ensuing deadly crackdown by Egyptian authorities on Islamists, with Cairo accusing the Gulf state of backing Mursi’s Muslim Brotherhood movement – declared a terrorist group by the government late last year. - TradeArabia News Service