Karma: Abu Isma‘il's American Problem

Talk about what's going around coming around: Salafi Egyptian Presidential candidate and ubiquitous poster boy Hazem Abu Isma‘il has been one of the most vocally anti-American Egyptian political figures. In the past few days Egyptians critical of Abu Isma‘il (or perhaps just tired of his posters) have dug up his late mother's voter registration — in California. Under the ground rules imposed last year, Presidential candidates must be Egyptian citizens and the child of Egyptian parents who have never held dual citizenship.

Oops. Here's The New York Times version. More here, though now superseded by more details. Arabic account citing a Ministry of Foreign Affairs ruling here.

Will he be disqualified? Is it a plot by secularists, or the Muslim Brotherhood (who see him as a competitor for the Islamist vote)? Or will he blame the Americans?