A lawsuit against Egypt's former interim vice president has been dismissed, as a misdemeanor court says there weren't sufficient grounds for a suit against Mohammed ElBaradei to proceed. He had been accused of betraying the national trust.
The lawsuit was filed by a law professor who opposed the rule of President Mohammed Morsi, according to Gulf News. ElBaradei had been a co-leader of the secular National Salvation Front, which supported Morsi's ouster this summer.
From Cairo, NPR's Merrit Kennedy filed this report for our Newscast unit:
"The case against ElBaradei was filed following his resignation in mid-August. The Nobel laureate was appointed interim vice president in early July, following the military's ouster of former President Mohammed Morsi.
"He resigned on the same day as the massive security crackdown that killed hundreds of the former president's supporters because, he said, there were other options besides the assault. He has been outside of Egypt since his resignation.
"ElBaradei's departure was a major blow to the military-installed government as he was seen as a key moderate voice in favor of Morsi's overthrow."
In 2011, ElBaradei, the former head of the U.N. nuclear agency, welcomed the overthrow of Egypt's former ruler, Hosni Mubarak.
"It's the greatest day of my life," he told NPR's Robert Siegel. "I couldn't have imagined that I would live long enough to see Egypt emancipated from decades of repression."
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