Head of parliament’s Human Rights Committee Anwar Al-Sadat was referred to the disciplinary committee along with 11 other MPs from the same committee for travelling to Geneva to attend an international rights conference.
Al-Sadat said that he received an official invitation to attend the conference, and also informed parliamentary speaker Ali Abdul Aal about the conference and received a verbal approval. However, this was followed by a verbal refusal, but Al-Sadat said that this is the “norm”. He added that the Human Rights Committee should be operating both inside and outside of Egypt.
On the other hand, committee deputy Atef Makhalif said in a press statement that only Al-Sadat should be held accountable for accepting the invitation, though Makhalif was among the delegation that attended the conference.
Makhalif, along with the other members who travelled to Geneva, demanded a meeting with Abdul Aal prior to the investigations.
Al-Sadat’s referral was expected after several verbal disputes occurred with Abdul Aal. The former has also said that Abdul Aal sides with the government and acts as if he is one of its ministers. He also said that Abdul Aal imposes restrictions on the work of the committee.
Al-Sadat is expected to be overthrown in the next elections for parliamentary committees’ heads due to his continuous clashes with Abdul Aal.
Al-Sadat previously told the privately-owned Al-Shorouk newspaper that the continued discord with the parliamentary speaker is not personal, but all these debates are constructive and should happen for the public interest.
Moreover, the controversial MP previously stressed that he respects the military institution, but the role of the parliament is to monitor institutions. He demanded the disclosure of military personnels’ wages, a demand to which Abdul Aal strictly refused and said that Al-Sadat should respect the military institution.
Al-Sadat also said that he may have to freeze the activities of the committee due to Abdul Aal’s negligence in meeting their demands; however, Abdul Aal said that he will allow the members to be nominated for Al-Sadat’s position in the event that he freezes the committee’s activities.
