Editing Mohamed Al-Fayed (section)

=== Nationality ===
Al-Fayed was born an Egyptian citizen, entered [[Haiti]] on a Kuwaiti passport, and left Haiti with a Haitian [[diplomatic passport]] with which he entered the United Kingdom in 1964. In 1970 Al-Fayed informed [[Mahdi Al Tajir]] that he and his brothers' Haitian diplomatic passports had expired, and their Egyptian passports made it difficult for them to obtain visas in many countries.<ref name="Bower 1998, p.40">Bower 1998, p.40.</ref> Tajir secured Emirati passports for Al-Fayed, but not Emirati nationality.<ref name="Bower 1998, p.40" /> On the passport documents Al-Fayed had his date of birth changed from 1929 to 1933, making himself four years younger.<ref name="Bower 1998, p.40" /> His two brothers reduced their ages by ten years on their new passports.<ref name="Bower 1998, p.40" />

The rulers of Dubai, the [[Al Maktoum]] family, had refused to renew the Fayeds' passports in 1993, and so they reverted to travelling on their original Egyptian passports. Mohamed and Ali Al-Fayed applied for [[British citizen#Acquisition of British citizenship|British citizenship]] in early 1993. Ali's application was supported by [[Gordon Reece]] and [[Peter Hordern (politician)|Peter Hordern]], and Mohamed's by [[Edwin Bramall, Baron Bramall|Lord Bramall]] and [[Jeffrey Archer]].<ref>Bower 1998, p.304.</ref> The Al-Fayed brothers' application for British citizenship was rejected in December 1993, on the basis that the DTI report disqualified them from citizenship.<ref name="Bower 1998, p.330">Bower 1998, p.330.</ref> [[Michael Howard]], the [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative]] [[home secretary]], asked for the decision to be reviewed, fearing renewed embarrassment over his connections with alleged fraudster Harry Landy, which surfaced during the DTI investigation.<ref name="Bower 1998, p.330" /> The application was rejected again in February 1995,<ref>Bower 1998, p.360.</ref> and in 1996 [[High Court of Justice|the High court]] declared that the home secretary could not deny, without explanation, the Al-Fayeds' citizenship requests.<ref>Bower 1998, p.399.</ref> The [[Home Office]] later abandoned its appeal to the [[House of Lords]] against the High Court's decision.<ref>Bower 1998, p.449.</ref>

In 1997, [[Jack Straw]], the home secretary in the new [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour]] government, reconsidered the Al-Fayeds' citizenship request,<ref name="straw-reconsider">{{Cite news |last=Bennetto |first=Jason |date=23 December 1997 |title=Straw to reconsider Fayed citizenship request |url=http://www.independent.co.uk/news/straw-to-reconsider-fayed-citizenship-request-1290277.html |work=The Independent |location=London}}</ref> but rejected Mohamed Al-Fayed's request in May 1999.<ref name="fayed-fails">{{Cite news |last=Bennetto |first=Jason |date=21 October 1999 |title=Fayed fails in citizenship appeal |url=http://www.independent.co.uk/news/straw-to-reconsider-fayed-citizenship-request-1290277.html |work=The Independent |location=London}}</ref> Ali Al-Fayed had had his request for citizenship granted in March 1999.<ref name="fayed-brother">{{Cite news |date=11 March 1999 |title=Fayed brother gets UK citizenship |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/295121.stm |work=BBC News online |location=London}}</ref>

The rejection was attributed to Al-Fayed's admitting that he bribed politicians and his breaking in to safety deposit boxes in Harrods.<ref name="fayed-fumes" /> Al-Fayed described the decision as "perverse" and said he was a victim of the British establishment and "zombie" politicians.<ref name="fayed-fumes" />