Mohamed El-Baradei (Photo: Ahram)
Egyptian law-maker Mostafa Bakry presented on Monday an official letter to parliament speaker Ali Abdel-Aal demanding that the nationality of Egypt's former vice president Mohamed ElBaradei be revoked for "inciting against the Egyptian nation."
Bakry accused the Nobel laureate of "playing a dangerous role in inciting against Egypt and defaming its state institutions before international organisations and entities."
He also demanded that Egypt's highest Order of the Nile decoration which ElBaradei received in 2006 be withdrawn.
Bakry presented documents and videos with the letter, saying that the evidence contained therein would require the withdrawal of Egyptian citizenship from
ElBaradei in accordance with the law. Parliamentary sources were not able to identify the nature or credibility of these documents.
ElBaradei was the Director-General of the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), an intergovernmental organisation that seeks to inhibit the use of nuclear energy for military purposes. He received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2005 and Egypt' s Order of the Nile decoration in 2006.
ElBaradei lived between Egypt and several European capitals before returning to the country in the months before the toppling of long-time president Hosni Mubarak.
In February 2010, he co-founded the National Association for Change, a group of opposition powers demanding political and democratic reforms in Egypt.
During the rule of former president Mohamed Morsi, ElBaradei co-founded the National Front for Salvation, consisting of more than 35 groups opposed to the regime of the Islamist president.
Following the ousting of Morsi by a popular uprising in July 2013, ElBaradei served as interim Vice President of Egypt.
He resigned after security forces forcibly dispersed protest camps set up by Morsi supporters in August 2013.
On Saturday, El-Baradei made his first interview on an Arabic channel since his resignation, hinting at a return to Egyptian politics after three years of "distancing" himself.
At the same time on Saturday, Television presenter on Egypt's Sada El-Balad channel Ahmed Moussa, who is known for leaking personal recordings of revolutionary activists and politicians, leaked purported recordings of two of ElBaradei’s phone calls.
One purported to be a call from March 2011 with Sami Anan, who was then army chief of staff. In the call, ElBaradei apparently negotiates on behalf of protesters calling for the resignation of the cabinet of prime minister Ahmed Shafiq, Mubarak’s last appointed prime minister.
The second leak was an alleged personal phone call between ElBaradei and his brother Ali ElBaradei, in which the two discussed how the veteran politician was dealing with the Revolutionary Youth Coalition.
Moussa, known for his strong pro-government voice, did not disclose how he obtained the recordings. He presented the calls as evidence that ElBaradei, who was once seen by many young revolutionaries as one of the leaders of the 2011 revolution, looked down on many political and revolutionary figures at that time.
The TV presenter called on his audience to tweet a hashtag in Arabic: "expose rude ElBaradei." The hashtag began trending in Egypt within a few hours.
Since his resignation in 2013, El-Baradei has been severally accused by media outlets close to the state of desertion and treason.
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