Social Democratic Egyptian Party’s MP Zeyad Al-Elemi said that the parilament’s ethics committee is trying him for his own political opinion, expressing his belief that the decision to punish him has been taken.

The parliament’s ethics committee has decided today to postpone the interrogation with Al-Elemi till next Monday. Al-Elemi is charged with what the committee called “verbal abuse of head of the ruling Supreme Council for Armed Forces Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi.”

In a statement reported by the Middle East News Agency (MENA), Al-Elemi said that he presented to the committee the opinions of member of the Arabic Language Academy Dr. Mohamed Al-Gawadi, the academy’s deputy Dr. Kamal Beshr and professor of literary criticism and rhetoric Dr. Ahmed Sabra which unanimously agreed that what Al-Elemi said is not an insult.

Al-Elemi said to the committee that it cannot interrogate him because this is a verbal abuse crime and no complaint should be filed except by the victim which the victim has not done.

Some members of the ethics committee told Al-Elemi to end the whole issue by saying “I apologize for what I said and I meant no offence.”