Salafist Anwar al-Balkimi apologises for plastic surgery lie

Egyptian Salafi MP Anwar al-Balkimi, who shot to fame following his nose job scandal, apologized publicly for lying about undergoing plastic surgery and cited human weakness in his defense. “All human beings make mistakes and are allowed to repent,” Balkimi said in a speech he gave at the People’s Assembly, Egypt’s lower house of parliament. “We are all exposed to this.” Balkimi swore that the nose job he had undergone was not meant to change God’s creation, in reference to the ultra-conservative belief that plastic surgeries are forbidden in Islam since they aim at changing what God created. “I was not thinking straight at the time and that is why I did it.” In reference to calls for stripping him of parliamentary immunity and expelling him from parliament, Balkimi said that any action to be taken against him will not prevent him from performing his duties as a Muslim and an Egyptian. “I will always be honored to serve Islam and the Egyptian people whether from inside or outside the parliament.” Balkimi, now known as the “nose job MP,” was faced with a wave of criticism when he claimed he was attacked by five gunmen who stole 100,000 Egyptian pounds from him. It was when the MP filed a police report and the media got wind of the story that the manager of the hospital in which he did the surgery announced that he lied and presented documents to prove that the wound was from the surgery. Balkimi had invented the armed theft story in order to explain his bandaged face. The MP is now back to parliament with a smaller nose.