March 6, 2012
CAIRO (AFP) - An Egyptian Islamist MP was forced to resign from parliament and from his party after claiming that he was injured in a carjacking, when he had in fact had a nose job, his party said on Monday.
A bruised and bandaged Anwar al-Bilkimy had appeared on television last week saying he was the victim of a carjacking and spoke of how gunmen beat him and stole 100,000 Egyptian pounds ($16,500).
But doctors and medical staff at a hospital in the Cairo suburb of Sheikh Zayed came forward and said that the MP, who belongs to the ultra conservative Islamist party al-Nur, had in fact been undergoing rhinoplasty at the time.
In a statement on its Facebook page, Al-Nur said its chief Emad Abdel Ghafur had gone to see Bilkimy on Monday and confirmed that the whole story had been "made up".
Bilkimy "has resigned from the party and from parliament," the party said.
The MP is also to "offer a formal apology to the doctors at the hospital, the party, all members of parliament, the media, security forces and to all the Egyptian people," it said.
Egyptian prosecutors had launched an investigation into the affair, asking staff at the hospital to provide Bilkimy's medical records and demanding a forensic examination.
Bilkimy's claims of an attack came as Egypt struggles with insecurity since a popular uprising toppled president Hosni Mubarak last year, with a rise in carjackings, robberies and violence on the streets.
