The Nour Party has decided to suspend the membership of an MP who claimed to have been subjected to an assassination attempt after investigations found he had been lying, said Nader Bakkar, spokesperson for the Salafi-oriented party.
MP Anwar al-Bolkimy last week had claimed he sustained a nose injury during an armed robbery.
But the owner of Agouza Hospital, Dr. Hamdy Abdel Khaleq Farag — a plastic surgeon — said Bolkimy underwent a nose job at the hospital the same day he reported the alleged robbery.
In a telephone conversation with Al-Hayat satellite channel Sunday, Bakkar said, “It is no use apologizing. … The party has decided to take more serious action by expelling the MP in question from the party,” he said. “We will demand his expulsion from the People’s Assembly. We apologize to the Egyptian people for what happened.”
But Bakkar insisted Bolkimy’s behavior should not be used to smear the image of the entire party.
“We have apologized, so we reject demonizing the entire party for the mistake of one member,” he said.
Bakkar said he sent a memorandum to People’s Assembly Speaker Saad al-Katatny to call for expelling Bolkimy from the People’s Assembly after investigators discovered that he had been lying about the assault.
Farag, meanwhile, told prosecutors the marks on Bolkimy’s face were the result of the cosmetic surgery, not an assault.
