Cairo: An Egyptian Salafist lawmaker has resigned from the recently elected parliament for lying about undergoing cosmetic surgery, according to his party.
Anwar Al Balkeemi, a member of the radical Salafist Al Nour Party, last week claimed to have been assaulted and robbed by masked gunmen apparently to cover up the surgery.
But a manager of a private hospital and staff came forward to announce that Al Balkeemi, an MP for a Nile Delta province, had undergone surgery to have his nose shortened at the hospital and had asked them to keep it secret so as not to embarrass him before his constituents and Islamist colleagues.
The hospital informed the police about the surgery after Al Balkeemi appeared on television with a bandage covering his face, alleging to have been attacked and robbed on a highway outside Cairo, according to local media.
“After investigations, the party decided that Al Balkeemi has lied and should make an official apology to Al Nour, members of the parliament, the media and the security agency as well as to all the people of Egypt for causing concerns and disturbance,” the party said in a statement.
Al Balkeemi had also quit the party that holds 26 per cent of the parliament, the first elected since long-serving president Hosni Mubarak’s overthrow last year.
Al Balkeemi, the first to quit the Islamist-dominated parliament, will face charges of false report and disturbance of authorities, say legal experts.
