For ecstatic Hazem Salah Abu Ismail supporters outside the State Council yesterday, the Administrative Court’s decision concerning his mother’s nationality is decisive.
Hundreds of supporters surrounding the courthouse erupted into cheers and prostrated on the ground in prayers of gratitude before chanting, “She is Egyptian! She is Egyptian!”
There was never any doubt, however, that Nawal Abdel Aziz Nour, who died in 2010, was an Egyptian national.
At issue is whether, as alleged, she acquired US nationality in 2006 — thereby disqualifying her son from nominating himself for the presidency under the rules of the Article 26 of the Constitutional Declaration, which states that the parents of a presidential candidate must never have held a second nationality.
The Administrative Court ruled yesterday that the Interior Ministry is legally obliged to produce an official document stating that Nour never carried a second nationality.
According to media reports, the court held that the Interior Ministry has not recorded Nour as a dual national in its files but, rather, simply informed the Presidential Elections Commission that she entered and left Egypt on an American passport three times in the period between July 2008 and August 2009.
On 5 April, the commission published a statement on its official Facebook page in which it said that the US State Department had notified it that Nour acquired US nationality on 25 October 2006 and that the Egyptian Passports Authority informed the commission that Nour used a US passport to enter Egypt several times.
The statement said these documents “have been added to Abu Ismail’s file” and that they had informed one of Abu Ismail’s representatives of this following the failure of Abu Ismail himself to answer their telephone calls.
While the fact that Nour entered Egypt on a US passport would seem to be decisive, in raising this case against the Interior Ministry, Abu Ismail is arguably relying on a loophole in the Egyptian Nationality Law of 1975.
Under Article 10 of this law, an Egyptian national must obtain permission from the interior minister before acquiring a second nationality. Once the Egyptian national does so, the fact of them having this second nationality is recorded with the Interior Ministry.
But crucially, if — like Nour — they do not respect this requirement, Article 10 states that the citizen “shall continue to be regarded in all cases as Egyptian from all points of view, unless the government decides to strip him of the nationality.”
Lawyer Khaled Ali, who represented Abu Ismail in the nationality case, says that it is now up to the Interior Ministry — which has the right to appeal the decision — to produce other documents proving that Nour carried a second nationality.
Ali suggests that even if the American authorities produce documents proving Nour was a US national that are then presented by the Egyptian government, this will not satisfy the requirement of Article 10 of the Nationality Law that the fact of an Egyptian citizen having a second nationality be known to the Interior Ministry and officially recorded in its files.
Ali also explained that the Interior Ministry is prohibited from invoking its powers to strip Nour of her Egyptian nationality under Article 10 — as a way of proving that Nour was an American national — because she is deceased.
Lawyer Ahmed Seif suggests that the decision on whether Abu Ismail will run “will be made by the Presidential Elections Commission” and that it “can rely on any documents to prove whether or not Nour had US nationality.”
A decision by the commission that Nour was in fact an American national would likely put an end to Abu Ismail’s presidential bid, because under Article 28 of the Constitutional Declaration, its decisions cannot be contested.
