An Australian state MP has been prevented from entering the United States, and fellow travelling politicians have been given no reason for the move. Lebanon-born Khalil Eideh, a Labor MP in Victoria, was stuck in Vancouver on Friday after a United Airlines staffer told him he was not allowed to board a flight to Denver with the rest of the group. “The United Airlines staff knew he had been denied entry to the US before any of us,” the Sex party MP Fiona Patten told AAP from Denver on Friday. “He was incredibly upset … disbelieving.” Patten said Eideh was not told why he wasn’t allowed on the plane.

Labor MP Natalie Suleyman said Eideh was originally told he was not booked on the flight before the check-in staff broke the bad news. “They said “you’ve been denied entry to the States,” Suleyman said. Eideh was given no explanation, she said.
Eideh was born in Tripoli in Lebanon to Syrian parents who follow the Alawite Islamic faith. He moved to Australia in 1970 aged 15 and later became a mail officer with Australia Post. From the 19 years up until he entered parliament in 2006 he was managing director of Bluestar Logistics, a trucking company based in Melbourne’s west.(theguardian)…[+]