In a stormy meeting yesterday, The People's Assembly agreed to suspend MP Ashraf Badr Eddin until the end of the current session because he took off his shoes and attempted to throw them during a meeting on January 10. He will be suspended till the next session in November 2009. The resolution was passed by 276 MPs against two objections and one abstention. The NDP deputies requested to drop Badr's membership all together, but the vote did not approve. The meeting started with Dr. Zeinab Radwan, the Council Deputy, presenting the report of the Ethics Committee, which did not suggest any penalty for Badr. Muslim Brotherhood MP Dr. Mohamed Saad Katatni said Badr did not mean to offend the majority or the Council Speaker. “We are part of the system and we hope for more dialogue between us,” he said. MP Ibrahim el-Gogari said what Badr did is an offence to the Council and it ridicules its members, but MP Sobhi Saleh said Badr was only reacting to MP Qassas insulting the opposition. MP Saad el-Gammal said Parliament has become the laughing stock of the satellite channels after that incident. He wished Badr would have thrown his shoes at the Zionists instead. Mustafa Bakri said this was not the first time shoes are thrown in Parliament, and asked to excuse it because everybody was frustrated at what was happening to Gaza. Hussein Ibrahim pointed out that many of the NDP majority members did violations before but were not referred to the Ethics Committee. MP Alaa' Eddin Abdel Moneim criticized NDP for accusing the opposition of treason. Badr said it was personal vendetta by Ahmed Ezz against him, and accused the Council of double standards for not punishing Qassas when he insulted the opposition.
