An Islamist MP has been banned from parliamentary meetings for removing his shoes in the People's Assembly The People's Assembly banned Ashraf Badreddin, an MP belonging to the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood, of right to attend the assembly, reports Gamal Essam El-Din. The move, approved during a stormy meeting on Tuesday, will remain in force until June. The decision followed a request by 276 deputies from the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) who accused Badreddin of abusing parliamentary privilege when he removed his shoes and threatened to hit Hassan Nashaat El-Qassass, the NDP MP for North Sinai, while chanting anti-government slogans. On 10 January parliamentary speaker Fathi Sorour referred Badreddin to the People's Assembly Ethics Committee for questioning. In a report submitted on Tuesday the Committee concluded that Badreddin had violated parliamentary codes of behaviour. "Badreddin claimed that he removed his shoes not to hit El-Qassass but to express anger at the Israeli massacres in Gaza," the report said, noting that the purported reason could not accuse a member threatening to hit another with his shoes. "Expressions of anger must be contained within dialogue and the exchange of ideas cannot be used to condone conduct that runs counter to the parliamentary code." The committee decided that the assembly should have the final say on any penalty faced by Badreddin. During Tuesday's debate NDP MPs were divided over whether Badreddin should be stripped of his parliamentary membership or banned from attending parliamentary meetings until the end of the current session in early June. Abdel-Ahad Gamaleddin, the NDP's parliamentary spokesman, said most NDP MPs favoured the second option. The decision was opposed by more than 100 MPs, including opposition and independent members and two dissident NDP MPs. Saad El-Katatni, the Muslim Brotherhood's parliamentary spokesman, said the decision to ban Badreddin from parliamentary meetings represented a new case of double standards in the People's Assembly, questioning why El-Qassass had not been penalised in a similar manner since, El-Katatni claimed, televised recordings of the assembly's 10 January session show him clearly insulting opposition and independent MPs, accusing them of serving Egypt's enemies. "As much as we condemn Badreddin's action we also condemn the false accusations which El-Qassass levelled against the opposition and we believe that the latter should be penalised for them," said El-Katatni. Mustafa Bakri, an independent MP with leftist leanings, joined forces with El-Katatni, arguing that Badreddin's angry reaction was justified by the insults directed by El-Qassass at opposition and independent MPs. "Badreddin's actions must be considered in the context of the Israeli aggression on Gaza," said Bakri. To the laughter of NDP MPs, Bakri claimed that "Badreddin decided to raise his shoes to give a message to the Zionists that they deserve not only our shoes but our bullets as well." NDP MP Ahmed Abu Aqrab, who had requested that Badreddin be stripped of membership, insisted that it was "deplorable that Arab satellite channels exploited the incident to tarnish the image of Egypt and smear the reputation of Egyptian parliament".
