CAIRO, EGYPT – The hard-line Al-Nour Party of Egypt announced last week that one of its leaders, Anwar al-Balkimy, has been expelled from the political group after officials learned that the conservative Member of Parliament had lied to them about a recent assault upon his person in order to cover up an even greater infamy: the fact that he had undergone a nose job.

Al Jazeera reports that al-Balkimy, a parliamentarian with political ties to the even harder-lined Islamic Brotherhood, fabricated a story in which he was beaten by masked gunmen. The embarrassment over his nose job story forced the conservative Muslim to resign from the nation’s 40-day-old parliament.

The truth came to light after fellow members of the religious Al-Nour party visited al-Balkimy in the hospital where he was recovering from what had originally been reported as injuries sustained in a mugging and assault. Instead, they found out that al-Balkimy had gone to a Cairo clinic for rhinoplasty, then checked himself in to a second hospital where he told doctors that his bandaged face had resulted from an attempted carjacking in the desert.

“Based on what the hospital officials said, we decided to expel him from the party, and so he submitted his resignation,” party spokesman Nader Bakar said on the organization’s official Facebook page. “We are trying to bring forth a new set of social values in politics based on Islamic principles. He may be suffering from an emotional disorder.”

Though al-Balkimy has apologized for the incident, he could face prison time if convicted on charges related to filing a false report, including “creating anxiety among the public” and “worrying public officials,” according to Al Jazeera.