How one Egyptian beauty queen lost her citizenship
The Egyptian minister of interior’s decision to withdraw citizenship from Naglaa Ahmad Abdel Ati Suleiman, who also holds Israeli citizenship, stirred mixed reactions in Egypt.
CAIRO — Egyptian Prime Minister Sherif Ismail issued on Nov. 10 a decision to revoke citizenship from Naglaa Ahmad Abdel Ati Suleiman because she also held citizenship from Israel without ever having obtained the required permission. Egyptian law requires that any national who wishes to become a dual citizen first obtain approval from the Interior Ministry.
Suleiman, aka Nana, hails from the town of El Bagour in the Monufia governorate. Her father is Egyptian, while her mother is a Palestinian citizen of Israel.
According to Egyptian birth records, Suleiman, 23, was born in 1992 and left Egypt when she was 5 years old for Israel with her mother and father. The family settled in Nazareth, where her father worked as an accounting manager at a rebar plant owned by a Palestinian businessman. She received an Israeli degree in biotechnology, which is considered a pre-med degree, and she graduated with distinction.
Suleiman won the title of Arab Miss Israel in 2009, and she announced after winning that her participation was “a national action aiming at spreading peace.”
