CAIRO, Sep 22 (Reuters) The United States has denied entry to four Egyptian Muslim clerics sent to Florida to officiate at religious events during the approaching fasting month of Ramadan, Cairo airport officials said today.

The last of the four, Zain el-Abdin Mohamed el-Sayed, returned to Cairo today after US immigration authorities refused to let him enter the country. The others flew home over the past two days, said the officials who asked not to be named.

All four had valid US visas and were going to Florida as part of an annual programme organised by the Azhar, the Cairo-based institute of Muslim learning.

The South Florida Sun Sentinel quoted American Muslim community leader Sofian Abdelaziz as saying the US immigration held the clerics for 24 hours without providing beds or access to phones and then deported them without explanation.

''I consider this a big disaster for our community this year,'' said Abdelaziz, director of the American Muslim Association of North America in Miami.

''We are against extremism and we are not dealing with sheikhs and imams who have a policy to teach extremism ... We lost four good educators,'' he added.

REUTERS DKA PM2032