Egypt Interior Ministry to Comply With Abu Ismail Ruling

Egypt’s Interior Ministry will comply with a court ruling requiring it to provide documentation about the citizenship of Salafi presidential hopeful Hazem Abu Ismail’s mother, the official Middle East News Agency reported.

The ministry isn’t a “real party to this case,” but will comply with the ruling, MENA cited an unidentified ministry official as saying in a statement. Abu Ismail’s bid to be included on a final list of presidential nominees had been in jeopardy amid reports his mother held U.S. citizenship before her death. He has repeatedly denied the claims. Current electoral law bars anyone whose parents hold or held another nationality from running for the country’s top post.

A Cairo administrative court sided with Abu Ismail in requiring the Interior Ministry to provide documentation about his mother’s Egyptian citizenship.

The Salafi candidate, who mustered thousands of supporters in a mass rally last weekend, said he received official copies of the ruling and was seeking to ensure ministries and other authorities comply with the order, MENA reported. Abu Ismail said the ruling also affected Egypt’s election commission.

The commission had said it received a letter from the passport authority stating that Abu Ismail’s mother had a U.S passport and used the document several times to travel to and from Egypt. It also said Egypt’s Foreign Ministry had said she received her U.S. citizenship on Oct. 25, 2006, according to an April 7 statement by the commission.

Egypt’s election commission will announce the final list of presidential candidates on April 26.

To contact the reporter on this story: Tarek El-Tablawy in Cairo teltablawy@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Andrew J. Barden in Dubai at barden@bloomberg.net