Ahmad Fathi Sorour

Ahmad Fathi Sorour
Sorour (right) with President of Russia Vladimir Putin on 27 April 2005.

Speaker of the People's Assembly of Egypt
In office 13 December 1990 – 13 February 2011
Preceded by	Rifaat el-Mahgoub
Succeeded by	Saad El-Katatni*
* Office vacant from 13 February 2011 to 23 January 2012

Ahmad Fathi Sorour (born 9 July 1932) is an Egyptian politician who was the Speaker of the People's Assembly of Egypt from 1990 until the Egyptian Revolution of 2011. Previously he served in the government as Minister of Education from 1986 to 1990.

Sorour was first elected to the People's Assembly in April 1989, and he was elected as Speaker in November 1990. He was President of the Council of the Inter-Parliamentary Union in 1994–1997 and also served as President of the Union of African Parliaments in 1990–1991. According to Article 84 of the Egyptian Constitution, Sorour, as Speaker of the People's Assembly, was first in the order of succession to become President of Egypt if the President died, became incapacitated, or resigned.^[1] Upon the resignation of Hosni Mubarak in 2011, however, the military, headed by Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, assumed control of the state.^[2]

Allegations and controversies

Allegations of non-compliance with the judiciary

Sorour was widely criticized for article 93 of the Egyptian Constitution: "The parliament is the master of its decisions", meaning that the parliament could make a decision about its membership regardless of any judicial decisions. This article caused significant concerns amidst allegations that parliamentary elections were repeatedly and systematically rigged. Sorour continued to assert that the parliament was the competent authority to decide the validity of its memberships despite the widely acknowledged allegations of rigging.^[3] Following the Egyptian revolution of 2011 Sorour's parliament was dissolved and article 93 was referred for revision.

2011 revolution

In the aftermath of the revolution in Egypt (January 25, 2011- February 11, 2011) the Supreme Military Council, led by Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, was appointed to the position of Acting President. The Supreme Military Council dissolved the Egyptian Parliament which was headed by Sorour. This came following widespread allegations that the elections leading to this parliament, headed by Sorour, were rigged.^[4] On February 14, 2011 the Egyptian daily news Alwafd reported that the ruling military authorities opted to prosecute a senior member of Sorour's team for allegedly burning confidential documents in Sorour's office. The same newspaper reported that a restraining order was issued preventing Sorour from entering the parliament building following allegations of smuggling undisclosed documents from the building.^[5] Sorour was seen as one of the figures that caused the fall of Mubarak's rule. Some believed that Mubarak's mistake was that he increasingly gave too much latitude to his son's cabal, including Ahmad Fathi Sorour, among others.^[6]

Fathi Sorour openly supported measures taken to crack down on the pro-democracy demonstrations in Egypt. In a televised interview with Elmehwar TV in January 2011, Sorour was asked for an opinion on the US disapproval of the Egyptian authorities' action: disconnecting internet services in an attempt to halt the demonstrations. Sorour replied that the US "did more than that when it was subjected to terrorism", portraying some similarity between pro-democracy demonstrators in Egypt and the terrorists who attacked the United States. Sorour subsequently stated that he didn't view the pro-democracy demonstrators as terrorists.^[7]

References

External links

Profile at the Egyptian People's Assembly
Profile at the Egypt State Information Service
Profile at the Interparliamentary Union
Ahmed Fathi Sorour collected news and commentary at Al Jazeera English
Ahmed Fathi Sorour collected news and commentary at Ikhwanweb

Parliament of Egypt
Preceded by Rifaat el-Mahgoub	Speaker of the People's Assembly 1990–2011	Vacant Title next held by Saad El-Katatni

Speaker of Parliament of Egypt

Abdel Latif Boghdadi (vacant) Anwar Sadat (vacant) Anwar Sadat (vacant) Mohamed Labib Skokeir Hafiz Badawi Sayed Marey Sufi Abu Taleb Mohamed Kamel Leilah Rifaat el-Mahgoub (vacant) Ahmad Fathi Sorour (vacant) Saad El-Katatni (vacant) Ali Abdel Aal

Egyptian crisis (2011–14)

Part of the Arab Spring and Arab Winter

Timeline

Mubarak government	Revolution of 2011 Timeline Resignation of Hosni Mubarak Domestic responses International reactions

Tantawi government	Timeline Muslim Brotherhood (post-Mubarak) Trials and judicial hearings Human rights in Egypt under the SCAF Reform process Constitutional review committee 2011 constitutional referendum 2011 Constitutional Declaration 2011 attack on the Israeli Embassy in Egypt Maspero demonstrations November 2011 Tahrir clashes Port Said Stadium riot Elections 2011–12 parliamentary election 2012 Shura Council election 2012 presidential election

Morsi government	Timeline Reform process Constituent Assembly 2012 constitutional referendum 2012 Constitution 2012–13 protests June 2013 protests 2013 coup d'état

Mansour government	2013–14 post-coup unrest Republican Guard HQ clashes August 2013 Rabaa massacre Kerdasa massacre Battle of Kerdasa Bombings December 2013 Mansoura January 2014 Cairo Reform process 2014 constitutional referendum 2014 Constitution 2014 presidential election

Sinai insurgency	Operation Eagle August 2011 attacks August 2012 attack Operation Sinai 2014 Taba bus bombing October 2014 attacks

Places

Cairo	Tahrir Square Qasr al-Nil Bridge Rabaa Al-Adawiya Mosque 6th October Bridge

Alexandria	Sidi Bishr

Mubarak
government

Presidency	Hosni Mubarak (President) Omar Suleiman (Vice President)

Cabinet	Ahmed Nazif (Prime Minister, Cabinet) Ahmed Shafik (Prime Minister, Cabinet) Ahmed Aboul Gheit (Foreign Minister) Habib el-Adly (Interior Minister)

NDP figures	Gamal Mubarak Ahmed Ezz Zakaria Azmi Ahmad Fathi Sorour Safwat El-Sherif Hussein Salem

Tantawi
government

Armed Forces	Mohamed Hussein Tantawi (Chairman) Sami Hafez Anan Mohab Mamish Reda Mahmoud Hafez Mohamed Abd El Aziz Seif-Eldeen

Cabinet	Kamal Ganzouri (Prime Minister) Mohamed Kamel Amr (Foreign Minister)

Morsi
government

Presidency	Mohamed Morsi (President) Mahmoud Mekki (Vice President)

Cabinet	Hesham Qandil (Prime Minister, Cabinet) Mohamed Kamel Amr (Foreign Minister) Ahmed Gamal el-Din (Interior Minister)

FJP figures	Khairat El-Shater Mohammed Badie Essam el-Erian Saad El-Katatni Mohamed Beltagy Safwat Hegazi

Opposition groups

Opposition figures

Activists

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