MP Al-Sadat goes to prosecution as problems with parliament escalate

Amira El-Fekki
3 Min Read
Mohamed Anwar Al-Sadat, head of the Reform and Development Party (Photo courtesy of Facebook)

The crisis between member of parliament (MP) Mohamed Anwar Al-Sadat and the parliament continues to escalate, following state media reports that the parliament’s disciplinary committee has approved a proposal suggesting Al-Sadat’s parliamentary membership to be revoked.

On one hand, the disciplinary committee was investigating Al-Sadat based on a report filed to the parliament by Minister of Solidarity Ghada Waly, accusing the MP of leaking a copy of the NGOs law to foreign embassies before it was officially issued by the parliament.

Moreover, Al-Sadat found himself accused of forging the signatures of his colleagues in the parliament on a different NGOs draft proposal.

On the other hand, Al-Sadat, who denied the accusations, said in a press statement on Monday that he filed a report “against himself” to Prosecutor General Nabil Sadek, in which he asked that he be interrogated, “because such accusations would damage his reputation.”

Al-Sadat gave an interview Sunday evening to CBC channel in which he said that Waly’s complaint said that the Dutch ambassador to Egypt addressed her with concerns regarding the NGOs draft prepared by the government, and that when she asked him where he saw it, the ambassador claimed that Al-Sadat sent it to him.

“I have never met the Dutch ambassador nor sent him anything. The law was already published in the newspaper months earlier,” Al-Sadat claimed.

As for the second accusation, several MPs denied having signed another NGOs law proposal, according to Al-Sadat, who in return said he did not need to forge signatures given that he would have easily found alternatives for MPs who did not want to sign his proposal.

Al-Sadat added that he always “felt targeted, since being elected head of the Human Rights Committee.”

He added that he has been trying not to quit the parliament, assuring that a systematic campaign was led against him inside the parliament, and that the committee was restricted and banned from working on certain topics.

Al-Sadat resigned from the presidency of the committee after tensions increased between him and Parliament Speaker Ali Abdul Aal.

Former MP Tawfik Okasha was the only member whose membership was dropped since the establishment of the parliament in early 2016, after a majority of votes against him on grounds that he had received the Israeli ambassador to Egypt in his house without prior permission from the parliament.

Meanwhile, MP Sameh Seif Al-Yazal, who had led the parliamentary coalition “Egypt’s Support”, passed away.

Two other members resigned, including Kamal Ahmed and Serry Seyam.

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Journalist in DNE's politics section, focusing on human rights, laws and legislations, press freedom, among other local political issues.
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