Former Egyptian candidate detained
cairo — Egyptian security forces detained former presidential candidate Abdel Moneim Abol Fotouh for alleged contacts with the banned Muslim Brotherhood group, state news agency Mena reported on Wednesday.
The country’s state security prosecution ordered the arrest of Abol Fotouh and several leaders of his Strong Egypt party, the news agency said.
He was one of the top presidential candidates in the country’s first elections after the 2011 uprising, taking about 18 per cent of the first-round vote.
The arrests come several weeks before a presidential election in which President Abdel Fattah El Sisi is seeking a second term in a race against a little known politician.
Abol Fotouh’s niece Sanaa Ahmed said tens of policemen dressed in civilian clothing came to the house with an arrest warrant and took him away on Wednesday night.
Egypt banned the Brotherhood in 2013 after the army led by general-turned-president El Sisi ousted president Mohammed Mursi, a senior member of the Brotherhood in Egypt.
Abol Fotouh quit the Muslim Brotherhood in 2011 to mount an independent bid for the presidency and has distanced himself from the hardline movement since then.
Abol Fotouh’s party deputy, Mohamed Al Qassas, was detained last week and is being held pending an investigation, according to the party’s Facebook page.
The party condemned the arrest and criticised what it called “the systematic targeting of the opposition politicians” in a post earlier this week.
Thirteen local and international rights groups condemned Egypt’s March presidential election on Tuesday, saying the race would neither be free nor fair. —