Salafi MP Anwar El-Balkemi has clearly never heard of Pinocchio, reports Reem Leila Salafist Nour Party MP Anwar El-Balkemi resigned from the People's Assembly (PA) after it emerged that his claims of being attacked by five masked men on the Cairo-Alexandria Desert Road, being severely beaten and robbed of LE100,000 were a pack of lies. On 29 February El-Balkemi told reporters that the attack was so severe that he was transferred to Al-Sheikh Zayed Hospital in 6 October in a critical condition. When employees at an Agouza hospital specialising in plastic surgery revealed that El-Balkemi had in fact been having cosmetic surgery on his nose on the day he claimed the attack took place he was quickly expelled from the party. The bandages on El-Balkemi's face, said hospital staff, were not covering injuries but were there because he had just had a nose job. According to the hospital manager, the MP had insisted on leaving the hospital immediately following his surgery despite being advised by doctors to remain under medical supervision for a couple of days. "He also urged me not to tell anyone that he had undergone plastic surgery," said the manager, whose statements were supported by six eyewitnesses -- four doctors and two nurses -- at the clinic. The Nour Party spokesman Nader Bakar said in a statement that some party members had visited El-Balkemi at the Al-Sheikh Zayed Hospital only to discover his claims about being robbed were untrue. Party officials then advised El-Balkemi to apologise to staff at the Salma hospital where he had his plastic surgery, the Nour Party members, members of parliament, security officials and media institutions for the disturbance he had caused. "I was under anesthesia and did not know what I was saying. I decided to resign in order not to cause more embarrassment either to the party or the People's Assembly," El-Balkemi was quoted as saying. "We apologise to the public for the claims of this member," said Bakar. "Also to the authorities and media. The MP has now been expelled from the party as a result of his fraudulent claims." El-Balkemi's resignation will be discussed in the PA once assembly speaker Saad El-Katatni returns from Kuwait," added Bakar. Initially the attack appeared credible, following well-reported assaults on presidential candidate Abdel-Moneim Abul-Fotouh and on the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party MP Hassan El-Brens. Plastic surgery is frowned upon by the conservative Salafis.
