Egypt parliament committee rejects lifting immunity from MP Mortada Mansour

Egypt parliament’s constitutional and legislative affairs committee rejected Monday a request aimed at removing the parliamentary immunity of independent MP and high-profile lawyer Mortada Mansour.

The head of the committee, Bahaaeddin Abu Shoqa, told reporters that the request, submitted by Prosecutor-General Nabil Sadek, was based on malicious — rather than objective — grounds “and as a result it was rejected.”

The request accused Mansour of directing insults to rival lawyer Essam El-Islambouli while he was defending his son and MP Ahmed Mansour before the Court of Cassation in July.

The request was attached with a CD showing Mansour directing insults at El-Islambouli while he was walking in the court’s corridors.

Sadek said Mansour’s insults represent a slander and libel crime and as a result parliament should move to lift Mansour’s parliamentary immunity so that he could be questioned by judicial authorities.

A report by the committee said most of the insults and verbal clashes that occur in the corridors of courts are a routine thing.

“This is because lawyers usually become rivals in courts and each is trying to defend their clients in any way, not to mention that this issue is not related to parliamentary business in any way,” said the committee’s report.

El-Islambouli is the lawyer of political analyst Amr El-Shobaki who was a candidate in the Giza district of Dokki against Mansour’s son and MP Ahmed in last year’s parliamentary elections.

The Court of Cassation said in a report last July that El-Shobaki should be declared the winner of El-Dokki seat after a vote count showed that he had led Mansour by 300 votes.

Source: Ahram Online