Egypt MP Okasha ‎summoned by parliament following session scuffle

Gamal Essam El-Din , Monday 22 Feb 2016

MPs voted in favour of expelling TV anchor ‎Tawfik Okasha from parliament's Monday ‎session

Okasha
Screenshot from State TV of MP Tawfek Okasha addressing the first parliament session on Sunday 10 January, 2016

Egypt's parliament summoned independent MP and TV anchor ‎Tawfik Okasha for questioning on Tuesday after forming a committee to investigate his scuffle with parliament speaker Ali Abdel-Al, who expelled Okasha from the meeting hall on Monday.

Abdel-Al received the approval of MPs to expel ‎Okasha from parliament's meeting hall after ‎he refused to stop interrupting him.‎

Okasha accused Abdel-Al of stripping him of ‎the right to take the floor.

"Although I ‎submitted requests to take the floor several ‎times today and yesterday, you still insist on ‎ignoring them," said Okasha.‎

Okasha ridiculed Abdel-Al when he ordered ‎him to stay silent and respect parliamentary ‎rules, telling him "the problem is that ‎you were not the right man for this post."‎

He strongly attacked the election of ‎Abdel-Al as speaker of Egypt's new parliament ‎last January.

Okasha described Abdel-Al as an ‎autocratic person and that his election ‎represented an extension of the authoritarian ‎policies of former president Hosni Mubarak's ‎ruling party.‎

Okasha has tried several times to take the ‎floor in parliament since January, but in vain.

At ‎one time, Okasha decided to stay in the nearby ‎Pharaonic lobby, putting tape over his mouth ‎as an expression of anger with Abdel-Al for not ‎allowing him to take the floor.

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