A number of Egyptian MPs recently said that Parliament would discuss a draft law to revoke the Egyptian nationality for those involved in terrorist acts, or involved in an association, organization, gang or any entity that seeks to “harm the public order of the state.”
Numerous local media outlets quoted MPs who explained that the draft law intends to strip the Egyptian nationality from those involved in terrorism.
Among them was MP Abdel-Moneim al-Alimi, a member of the constitutional and legislative affairs committee of the House of Representatives, who told Al-Bawba news that amendments to the nationality law allow the state to take necessary measures to withdraw an individual’s nationality in accordance with the law.
He affirmed his support for the draft law, believing it would limit acts of terrorism.
Meanwhile, deputy of Parliament’s Human Rights Committee Mohamed Abdul Aziz al-Ghoul asserted that the law can be amended to allow the prosecution to initiate a lawsuit against convicted individuals to suspend their nationality.
In 2017, The Interior Ministry’s deputy director general for Legal Affairs Abdel Fattah Serag said that his ministry would only remove the Egyptian nationality from any citizen who is proven to be member of a terrorist group by judicial verdict.
In a televised interview on state-run channel DMC, he assured that the government would not revoke the Egyptian nationality from its “opponents,” as has been rumored.
At the time, Egypt’s cabinet approved an amendment that would allow the Egyptian citizenship to be revoked from a person belonging to an entity “seeking to undermine public order of the state.”
“On a daily basis, there are opponents of the government who appear on TV channels and are not subjected to any hurt or chase from the government, they express freely their opinions without any fear,” he said.
In 2015, President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi ratified a new law that provides a broad definition of “terrorist entities” as part of an ongoing government campaign to combat terrorism. The law defines terrorist entities as groups or organizations that “call to undermine laws, obstruct the functioning of state institutions, and seek to attack the personal liberty of citizens or harm national unity or social peace.”
