MP referred to Disciplinary Committee for ‘insulting parliament’ in Red Sea islands agreement debate 

Daily News Egypt
2 Min Read

Parliament referred on Sunday member of parliament (MP) Ahmed Tantawi to the Disciplinary Committee for investigations on the accusations of insulting the parliament, reported state-owned newspaper Al-Ahram.

Tantawi reportedly did not attend the meetings requested by the parliament’s office, although it had notified him twice after the Legislative Committee presented a report against him on 13 June.

The report explained an incident of Tantawi when he “dropped and smashed a microphone after taking it from the chairperson of the Geographic Association, Al-Sayed Al-Husseini”, which the committee described as “an unprecedented incident in the history of the parliament.”

The incident took place during the sessions to discuss the Egyptian-Saudi maritime demarcation agreement, known as the Red Sea islands agreement, which witnessed disputes between members of the Egypt Support Coalition and members of the 25-30 Coalition.

The parliament approved the Egyptian-Saudi maritime demarcation agreement on 14 June in a general session to transfer the sovereignty of the two Red Sea islands to Saudi Arabia.

However, the agreement was annulled by the Administrative Court on 16 January, the ruling which the parliament dismissed.

Meanwhile, Al-Tagamou leftist party issued a statement on Sunday to demand the president to not ratify the agreement immediately and to at least wait for the Supreme Constitutional Court ruling.

“The government presented the agreement to the parliament in an inappropriate timing, as the people suffer from false economic and social policies, while the government seeks shallow solutions,” the statement read.

In April 2016, President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi and Saudi King Salman bin Abdelaziz Al-Saud attended the signing ceremony of several cooperation agreements in various fields, according to the State Information Services (SIS).

Prime Minister Sherif Ismail and Saudi deputy crown prince Mohamed bin Salman bin Abdelaziz signed the agreement on maritime border demarcation between Egypt and Saudi Arabia.

 

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