After a stormy six-hour session on Monday, parliament decided that high-profile MP Anwar Al-Sadat be stripped of his membership. Parliament Speaker Ali Abdel-Aal announced at the end of the session that as many as 486 MPs — more than two-thirds of the 596 deputies needed, as stipulated by Article 110 of the constitution — voted by roll call in favour of stripping Al-Sadat of his membership. Abdel-Aal added that eight voted against and four abstained. Members of the leftist 25-30 opposition bloc boycotted the session in solidarity with Al-Sadat. Abdel-Aal said a ballot will be held in Talla district, which is affiliated with the Nile Delta governorate of Menoufiya, to elect a new MP replacing Al-Sadat. The anti-Al-Sadat motion came after three reports, prepared by parliament's Legislative and Constitutional Affairs Committee and the Ethics Committee, found him guilty of leaking information related to internal conditions in Egypt to international institutions and aiming to tarnish the image of parliament. The reports said Al-Sadat was also found guilty of forging the signatures of 16 MP colleagues on two draft laws he had prepared on criminal procedures and NGOs, and leaking a government-drafted NGO law to EU European ambassadors in Egypt in a bid to mobilise them against the law. When the vote began, Abdel-Aal asked Al-Sadat to leave the chamber in accordance with Article 110. Al-Sadat, a nephew of former Egyptian president Anwar Al-Sadat and head of the liberal Reform and Development Party, is the second MP whose membership was revoked by Egypt's year-old parliament. Tawfik Okasha, a high-profile TV anchor, was found guilty of holding contacts with Israel's ambassador in Egypt without getting parliament's prior approval. It was the second time that Al-Sadat was ousted from parliament. In the 2005-2010 parliament, he lost his membership after being accused of issuing a worthless bank cheque. Head of the Legislative and Constitutional Affairs Committee Bahaaeddin Abu Shokka said Al-Sadat was allowed to defend himself. “He was summoned to the committee to answer questions, not to mention that he was also allowed to present members of the committee copies of a detailed statement which he issued to respond to the accusations,” said Abu Shokka. Abu Shokka indicated that in his response, Al-Sadat said that all what he sent the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) was just a complaint. “As a result, we asked the IPU via e-mail whether it received a complaint from Al-Sadat,” said Abu Shokka, adding that “the IPU's Secretary-General Martin Chungong answered back in a written response that he had never received a complaint from Al-Sadat.” According to Abu Shokka, Chungong indicated that the IPU had never asked Al-Sadat or any MP to send it information about Egypt's parliament. “Chungong said the IPU refused to respond to Al-Sadat's messages, saying it does not need an intermediary to get information about Egypt's parliament,” Abu Shokka said. Abu Shokka said “in spite of Al-Sadat's defence, the majority of the committee's members — 40 out of a total 49 — found him guilty and voted in favour of stripping him of parliamentary membership.” Abu Shokka said that in accordance with Article 110 of the constitution, Al-Sadat has lost parliament's trust and confidence and as a result MPs have agreed that he must be stripped of his membership.” Abu Shokka said Al-Sadat used his e-mail and other private e-mails to send information to the IPU. “The majority of members agreed that Al-Sadat's e-mail messages aimed at tarnishing the image of Egypt's parliament and that Al-Sadat even incited the IPU to take action against our parliament,” Abu Shokka said. He added Al-Sadat told the IPU that security apparatuses took control of Egypt's parliament and that they intervened to help a former police officer become the head of parliament's Human Rights Committee in his place. Abu Shokka said that although Al-Sadat denied he had ever sent a draft NGO law to foreign ambassadors in Egypt, the minister of social solidarity insisted that the Dutch ambassador had told her that he received a copy by hand from Al-Sadat. Another nine-page report prepared by the Ethics Committee concluded that MPs agreed that in sending messages to the IPU, Al-Sadat was motivated by personal interests. “Al-Sadat is the head of an NGO which has received millions of dollars in donations in recent years,” said the report, adding that “statistics released by the Ministry of Social Solidarity show that from 2007 to 2016 Al-Sadat's NGO received around LE76.5 million in donations and that the ministry refused to allow this NGO to receive LE62 million in additional donations because of national security considerations.” “This explains why Al-Sadat tried his best to disrupt any NGO laws which might restrict the flow of foreign money into the pockets of his local NGOs and decided to leak a draft NGO law to foreign ambassadors in Egypt in a bid to mobilise them against the law,” Abu ShoKKa said. Al-Sadat was allowed by the parliament speaker to defend himself. He told MPs that when he sent messages to the IPU he was exercising the freedom of speech. “I was exercising a kind of self-criticism and my aim was to reform Egypt's legislative authority,” Al-Sadat said. Abdel-Aal responded to Al-Sadat: “But what you sent the IPU was not just criticism, as you also incited the IPU to take action against Egypt's parliament. “In your message to the IPU, you said our parliament has become an ineffective and powerless institution that has violated the constitution, and as a result asked the IPU to intervene,” charged Abdel-Aal. Al-Sadat responded by asking the speaker “what would be your reaction if I told the IPU that ‘everything in our parliament is okay and that we are implementing the constitution in an excellent way?'” To which the speaker retorted, “you know that MPs are banned from sending negative or positive messages to foreign institutions.” Al-Sadat said in his capacity as head of a political party he had the right to meet foreign and local officials and speak his mind on political affairs. “Since I became head of a political party, I have issued several statements that aim to explain my positions as an MP and as a politician,” Al-Sadat said. Members of the leftist 25-30 bloc, who walked out of the session before the roll call in protest, said the report indicting Al-Sadat was rammed through parliament without allowing enough time for discussion by MPs. “The report that recommended Al-Sadat be stripped of his membership was politicised and issued hastily,” said bloc member MP Samir Ghattas. Shortly after the vote results were announced, Al-Sadat told reporters that the motion and the vote come as part of an “organised campaign against me. “What happened is based upon false accusations and a media campaign that continued for weeks to defame my image despite my defence using documents and my request to stand before the Egyptian judiciary to answer the accusations,” Al-Sadat said. Mohamed Al-Sewidi, head of parliament's majority bloc Support Egypt (315 MPs), said earlier his bloc respected the reports of the Ethics Committee and the Legislative and Constitutional Affairs Committee on Al-Sadat. “As a result we will vote in favour of stripping Al-Sadat of his membership.” Alaa Abed, an MP who replaced Al-Sadat as head of parliament's Human Rights Committee, said his Free Egyptians Party (65 MPs) voted in favour of expelling Al-Sadat.
