Hamas denies allegations that Meshaal and Haniyeh hold Egyptian citizenship

The Hamas movement denied on Sunday that either the head of its political bureau, Khaled Meshaal, or his deputy, Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, hold Egyptian citizenship.

Hamas’s spokesperson Ismail Al-Bardawil stated that: “Meshaal and Haniyeh were born to Palestinian mothers and fathers. Both of them belong to the Palestinian resistance and they do not have Egyptian citizenship.”

Al-Bardawil described the Egyptian court cases demanding the revocation of the two leaders’ Egyptian citizenship as mere media propaganda paid for by Zionist entities and aimed at defaming the Palestinian resistance and stirring up differences between the Palestinian and Egyptian peoples.

On Sunday, Egypt’s Administrative Court referred a case to the State Council that demands the revocation of the two Hamas leaders’ Egyptian citizenship.

Media reports have alleged that, during his time in office, ousted President Mohamed Morsi had granted Egyptian citizenship to 16 Hamas leaders, including Meshaal and Haniyeh.

The various bodies of the Egyptian state have waged a brutal crackdown against the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas ever since the 3 July military coup that ousted Egypt’s first democratically elected government headed by the Brotherhood.

Source: Gaza – UPI