Lawsuit filed to strip Ayman Nour of Egyptian citizenship

CAIRO – 26 April 2017: A lawsuit to strip former presidential candidate Ayman Nour of his Egyptian citizenship was filed Wednesday.

Lawyer Tarek Mahmoud filed the lawsuit in the Administrative Judicial Court in Cairo against Nour, who resides in Turkey.

Mahmoud claimed Nour owns pro-Muslim Brotherhood TV channel El-Sharq, which broadcasts from Turkey. The lawyer accused Nour and the channel of “glorifying terrorism” and “inciting violence” in Egypt.

He further claimed that Turkish and Qatari intelligence services use the channel to endanger Egyptian national security and therefore Nour “does not deserve” his Egyptian nationality.

Nour ran for president against former President Hosni Mubarak in Egypt’s first multi-candidate presidential elections in 2005, and was jailed shortly afterwards for supposedly forging signatures to found Al-Ghad Party. He was released on health grounds in 2009.

Nour fled Egypt after the 2013 ouster of President Mohamed Morsi, and has since been a fierce critic of President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi and the Egyptian military.