By Menna Zaki

CAIRO, Nov. 29 (Aswat Masriya) - Prime Minister Sherif Ismail ordered that three Egyptian citizens be stripped of their nationality Sunday for joining the military service of a foreign country and working for its security services without permission from the defense ministry, said state-run MENA news agency.

The report did not provide details of the specific country or countries the ministry referred to. 

Based on article 10 of law no. 26/1975, an Egyptian citizen may not acquire a foreign nationality except after obtaining permission from the Interior Ministry and will retain the nationality unless Cabinet decides to revoke it under certain conditons.

Article 16 of the same law outlines cases where an Egyptian citizen may be stripped of his nationality which include failure to abide to article 10 mentioned above, joining the military service of a foreign country, living abroad while convicted with crimes related to harming state security or accepting a position in a foreign government or a foreign international body despite the issuance of a justified order by the Egyptian Cabinet to leave withdraw from that position.

The law also strips of nationality those who “join a foreign body whose purposes include working for the undermining of the social or economic order of the State, by the use of force or any other illegal means", as well as those who “work for a foreign state or government which is in a state of war with Egypt, or with whom diplomatic relations have been severed, and his continuation in work for such a state or government would constitute harm to Egypt's military, diplomatic or economic situation, or would adversely affect any other national interest."

Nationality is also taken away from individuals who are “qualified as Zionist.”

Egypt's administrative court is scheduled to give a verdict on January 17, 2016 in a case demanding that activist Wael Ghonim be stripped of his Egyptian nationality on accusations of being a "foreign agent."

Ghonim was politically active during the events of the January 25 uprising and was among those who called for protests against then-President Hosni Mubarak, who was ousted in 2011.

In the aftermath of the uprising, many in the media opposed to the change, embarked on a campaign of character assassination, making unsupported claims that Ghonim like many other pro-democracy activists, was backed by foreign entities.