In a stormy session, Egypt's parliament revoked the parliamentary membership of MP and high-profile TV anchor Tawfik Okasha.
A report by a seven-member investigative committee accused Okasha of violating the principle of the separation of powers and disrupting Egypt's deep-rooted parliamentary rules and precedents when he recently took the unilateral decision of meeting with Israel's ambassador.
Hassan Bassiouny, a former judge who led the committee, told the assembly that the seven members of the committee recommended that Okasha be banned from attending one nine-month legislative session after they found him guilty of showing disrespect to parliamentary rules and acting against the sovereignty of state institutions.
"The committee, which was formed on Sunday and questioned Okasha on Tuesday, decided that he was not able to defend himself or show that he received prior approval from any sovereign state authority before he held his meeting with the ambassador of a foreign country (the ambassador of Israel)," the report said.
Read out by Bassiouny, the report stressed that Okasha's decision to discuss national security issues with the ambassador of a foreign country on issues like Ethiopia's Renaissance Dam could cause serious damage to Egypt's strategic interests.
"We know that sovereign state authorities are heavily involved in conducting negotiations on this issue," said the report.
"Egypt's position in these negotiations could be negatively affected by Okasha discussing such a sensitive issue with a foreign ambassador," the report added.
The report also argued that the Vienna agreement for diplomatic relations designates the foreign ministry as the official body legally and constitutionally authorised to conduct contacts with foreign diplomatic corps in Cairo.
The parliament’s speaker Ali Abdel-Al was keen to stress that Egypt deeply respects its international and foreign agreements and treaties," especially the peace treaty with Israel.
"This treaty showed that Egypt's strategic policy is aimed at spreading peace in the Middle East," Abdel-Al said.
Abdel-Al also argued that "what we’re discussing here isn’t Okasha's meeting with the ambassador of a foreign country because Egypt's parliament highly respects the embassies of all foreign countries in Cairo.”
“What we’re discussing here is an issue directly related to the national security of this country," Abdel-Al said.
MPs erupted in anger when the committee's head Hassan Bassiouny said it had recommended that Okasha be just banned from attending one complete legislative season.
MPs shouted in one voice, asking for Okasha to be completely stripped of his parliamentary membership.
When Abdel-Al put the committee's recommendation to a vote, it received no support. Abdel-Al said that "we have another recommendation other than for Okasha be stripped completely of his parliamentary membership.
But in order to meet this objective, and according to parliament's internal by-laws, two-thirds of MPs should be available and each one should vote in person - whether he approves of the recommendation or not."
Abdel-Al also indicated that parliament should listen to Okasha and allow him to defend himself.
But as Okasha was not available, Abdel-Al asked the parliament to go ahead and administer the vote.
Okasha opted at the beginning to watch the session from a big TV screen in the nearby Pharaonic lobby of parliament. Shocked by the fierce reaction against him on the floor, he tried to enter the meeting chamber, but was prevented from doing so by Abdel-Al's orders.
In his daily TV talk show on Tuesday night, Okasha said he played a big role in ridding Egypt of the Muslim Brotherhood and that his next job was to rid Egypt of Nasserites and leftists.
"The Nasserites and leftists are just as skillful in causing damage to Egypt, so all the liberals – especially businessmen – should join forces with me to achieve this objective," Okasha said.
Nasserist MPs, though few in Egypt's new parliament, form a strong and vociferous lobby that was able to rally deputies behind voting down a new civil service law in January.
They were also up in arms against Okasha on Wednesday, accusing him of grand treason and tarnishing the image of late president Gamal Abdel-Nasser who was an avid enemy of Israel.
Independent MP Mostafa Al-Guindy said: "I am a Nasserist who saw how millions of Egyptians raised the posters of late president Abdel-Nasser during the revolutions of 25 January and 30 June at Tahrir Square."
"When I saw them I realised that I am a Nasserist and when one of us defames Gamal Abdel-Nasser in a meeting with Israel's ambassador he should be a big shame to this parliament," Al-Guindy said.
Mostafa Bakri, an independent MP and a self-described Nasserite journalist, argued that "Okasha was not in a meeting with the ambassador of a foreign country, but he was meeting with a spy for America and Israel."
"But Okasha's crime was not confined to this because he exploited his TV talk show to tarnish Saudi royal family members one by one," said Bakri.
Bakri, a controversial figure himself, also asked "Egypt's security agencies to unveil the real contents of Okasha's meeting with Israel's ambassador."
MP Khaled Youssef, a high-profile film director, said he supports expulsion of Okasha's from parliament not suspension of membership.
"I decided to join my colleagues in taking this decision. Not because of the peace treaty, which I rejected from the beginning, but because Okasha insisted on defaming Nasser," said Youssef.
Youssef also wondered how "Okasha gave himself the right to go to Israel's ambassador and appeal to him to save Egypt from the crisis it currently suffers because of Ethiopia's Nile Dam."
Some MPs, however, refused to follow the line of the Nasserists.
Mohamed Mounir, an independent MP, argued that "a strong reaction against Okasha could send a message to the outside world that Egypt does not respect the peace treaty with Israel."
"I am afraid to say that some MPs, who want to settle personal accounts with their colleague Tawfik Okasha, also want to impose their say on all MPs," Mounir said.
Liberal MP Anwar Al-Sadat, the nephew of late president Anwar Sadat who signed the peace treaty with Israel in 1979, also refused to join the anti-Okasha chorus.
"why was the decision against Okasha rammed through parliament without following the correct procedures or taking some time to listen to his defence,"Sadat said.
Sadat said he fears that MPs are working under orders to expel Okasha from the parliament in any way possible.
Irritated by the argument, Abdel-Al insisted that the anti-Okasha procedures are in line with the constitution and the house's by-laws.
"Furthermore, do you not all remember when an MP -- Ashour Nasr -- insulted president Sadat while he was delivering a speech in parliament in 1977? The house decided to drop his membership for the same session," Abdel-Al said.
Okasha is the second MP to leave Egypt's recentlyly convened parliament in two months.
The first, former judge and appointed MP Sirri Siam, submitted his resignation in protest at what he dubbed speaker Abdel-Al's autocratic practices.
MPs agreed that the quick and fierce reaction against Okasha was also intended to send a tough message to other "unruly MPs" like flamboyant lawyer and chairman of Zamalek sporting club Mortada Mansour and journalist Abdel-Rehim Ali: you also could lose your membership if you insisted on going down the Okasha road.
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