Egyptian star Mohamed Ramadan denied honorary degree owing to court case

The pop star initially received a doctorate from Lebanon’s German International Cultural Centre

Controversy surrounds an honorary degree awarded to Egyptian superstar Mohamed Ramadan. Chris Whiteoak / The National

Mohamed Ramadan has been stripped of an honorary degree owing to his former legal troubles.

The German International Cultural Centre in Beirut announced it has withdrawn an honorary doctorate granted to the actor and singer last week, citing his highly publicised court case with the late former air force pilot Ashraf Abdul Al-Yusr.

In April, an Egyptian court awarded Al-Yusr 6 million Egyptian pounds ($383,150) in damages, stemming from a 2019 incident in which Ramadan entered the cockpit mid-flight and posted images with the pilot on his social media accounts.

The unauthorised entry resulted in Al-Yusr, who died two weeks before the verdict, receiving a lifetime flying ban by aviation authorities.

"We did not know about the unfortunate incident of the Egyptian pilot, which we condemn and denounce,” read a statement given by the cultural centre to Daily News Egypt.

The German Embassy in Cairo also denied any affiliation with the German International Cultural Centre.

“We are always flattered to see the amount of people that like the word ‘German’, but keep in mind that not all institutions or companies that offer or use the word ‘Germany/German’ are approved and affiliated with the German government,” the embassy posted on its Facebook page on Saturday.

“There is no connection between the German government and the German Cultural Centre in Lebanon.”

Ramadan initially posted news of the degree on his Instagram account on Thursday, with a picture of the certificate and footage from the ceremony.

While the posts have been deleted from his Instagram, they remain online on his Facebook account with a caption thanking Lebanon’s Ministry of Culture and the Syndicate of Professional Artists in Lebanon for "giving me an honorary doctorate in acting and singing performance".

Syndicate head Farid Boussaid denied the organisation granted Ramadan the degree.

"We do not have the right to grant anyone a doctorate, and we did not honour him,” he told Lebanese newspaper Al Watan on Thursday.

While Ramadan has yet to directly address the furore, on Saturday he shared a message on Facebook from Lebanese television personality Nidal Al Ahmadiya congratulating on the degree.

"The real honour is your love and the love of my audience," he said.