MP Mostafa Bakry (Photo:Reuters)
Leftist MP Mostafa El-Naggar announced on Tuesday that he planned to gather parliamentarians' signatures in support of a formal request to Parliament Speaker Saad El-Katatni to have independent MP Mostafa Bakry referred to a parliamentary ethics committee for allegedly insulting prominent reform campaigner Mohamed ElBaradei.
The move comes after liberal MP Ziad El-Eleimy of the Egyptian Social Democratic Party was referred to the committee for allegedly insulting Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, head of Egypt's ruling military council, and a prominent Salafist preacher.
In a parliamentary session two weeks ago, Bakry accused ElBaradei – who had until recently been considered a possible frontrunner in upcoming presidential polls – of being an "agent" of the United States.
Despite the accusation, evidence for which was never produced, speaker El-Katatni did not refer Bakry to the ethics committee.
El-Naggar told Ahram Online that he had so far managed to collect over 30 signatures from liberal and independent members of parliament in support of his request.
Bakry, for his part, has stated on Twitter that he plans to explain his criticisms of ElBaradei to the committee.
In a statement on Tuesday, the April 6 Youth Movement threw its own weight behind calls to refer Bakry to the ethics committee.
El-Eleimy was brought before the committee on Monday after refusing to directly apologise for comments made last week about Tantawi and prominent Salafist sheikh Mohamed Hassan, which some observers interpreted as insults.
Short link: