A number of independent and party-based MPs this week submitted requests to Parliament Speaker Ali Abdel-Aal requesting that former vice president and UN diplomat Mohamed Al-Baradei be stripped of Egyptian nationality. The move came after Al-Baradei told an Arab London-based channel he might return to Egypt ahead of the 2018 presidential elections. “I might return after three years of distancing myself from Egyptian politics,” Al-Baradei said. MP Mustafa Bakri accused Al-Baradei of taking money from the London-based Al-Arabi channel in return for inciting young Egyptians against their country. “Just as the anniversary of the 25 January uprising is approaching Al-Baradei chose to appear on a hostile TV channel to incite against his country,” said Bakri. Bakri accused Al-Baradei of receiving money from a channel affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood regime of Qatar to tarnish the reputation of Egypt's state institutions before international organisations. He further claimed Al-Baradei has decided to ally with the terrorist Muslim Brotherhood and support its attempts to spread chaos inside Egypt. “Al-Baradei has opted to be part of the conspiracy against Egypt and follow the agenda of the so-called new Middle East project,” said Bakri. Bakri claimed to possess documentary and video evidence that required Al-Baradei to face trial on the charge of treason. “I have TV recordings and documents that show Al-Baradei inciting against his country in return for money,” said Bakri. According to Article 16 of 1975's Nationality Law, Bakri continued, Al-Baradei must be stripped of his Egyptian nationality. “I also demand the Order of the Nile decoration which Al-Baradei received from former president Hosni Mubarak in 2006 be withdrawn in response to his conspiratorial moves against his country,” said Bakri. Al-Baradei received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2005 for his work as Director-General of the UN International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Al-Baradei resigned as interim vice president of Egypt to protest what he called “the brutal dispersal” of Muslim Brotherhood mass sit-ins in Cairo and Giza in August 2013. He then chose to live in Austria, distancing himself from Egyptian politics. Coptic MP Margret Azer has also sent a request to President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi asking him to exercise his constitutional powers to strip Al-Baradei of Egyptian nationality and the Nile decoration. “Those who join international conspiracies aimed at spreading chaos in their country and disparaging its people should be stripped of their nationality,” said Azer. Azer said when she met Al-Baradei for the first and only time in 2010 she was surprised by the way he incited young people not to refuse conscription into the Egyptian Army. “I wonder how a traitor like Al-Baradei can be honoured with national decorations,” said Azer. “The Muslim Brotherhood has been designated a terrorist organisation, so Al-Baradei should be treated as a traitor and Egyptian nationality withdrawn from him.” Independent MP Lamees Gaber also insisted Al-Baradei's decorations be withdrawn. “They allow him to obtain a monthly stipend from the state and be honoured with a military funeral when he dies,” said Gaber. “Al-Baradei's Nobel prize also allows him to be received by the president of Egypt as a high-ranking official. Therefore he should be barred from returning to the country.” “We saw how Ahmed Zewail, an Egyptian scientist who won the 1999 Nobel Prize in chemistry, was accorded a military funeral when he died last year. This should not happen with Al-Baradei,” said Gaber. Like Azer, Gaber accused Al-Baradei of inciting young Egyptian people not to be drafted into the Egyptian Army. “He told them military conscription undermines human rights and they should stand against this,” said Gaber. In her request, Gaber also wondered “why Al-Baradei won the Nobel peace prize?” “This is a man who as head of the IAEA paved the way for the Americans to invade Iraq in 2003,” she claimed. Khaled Megahed, an MP affiliated with the Free Egyptians Party, told reporters on Sunday he had also submitted a request to Speaker Abdel-Aal on behalf of his party asking that Al-Baradei be stripped of his nationality. “After choosing to speak against the interests of his country a few days ahead of the sixth anniversary of the 25 January uprising and after choosing a Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated channel to kick off a smear campaign against Egypt Al-Baradei should be designated a traitor, stripped of Egyptian citizenship and barred from entering his country,” said Megahed. Fayez Barakat, an independent MP and deputy head of parliament's education committee, also submitted “an urgent statement” to Abdel-Aal asking for Al-Baradei's Egyptian nationality to be revoked. “Al-Baradei choose a Muslim Brotherhood channel to make his political return and this is quite enough for his Egyptian nationality to be revoked,” said Barakat. Barakat argued that under Article 16 of the 1975 Nationality Law (Law 26 of 1975) the cabinet can decide to strip citizens of their Egyptian nationality Bakri told Al-Ahram Weekly that he hopes that MPs' anti-Baradei requests top the agenda of parliament's plenary session next Monday. “If Speaker Abdel-Aal approves I will reveal all the documents and videos which prove that Al-Baradei is a traitor,” said Bakri. Bakri added Article 16 of the Nationality Law “allows parliament to recommend that certain citizens be stripped of their nationality since parliament represents the collective will of the Egyptian people”. “Al-Baradei has exposed his ugly face as an anarchist, conspirator and traitor,” said Bakri. “The anti-Baradei videos and documents do not include leaked telephone recordings such as those broadcast on the Sada Al-Balad channel this week. I have a multitude of documents and video footage in which Al-Baradei clearly incites young people to spread chaos throughout Egypt.”
