Egyptian security forces on Tuesday arrested the former prime minister of ousted President Mohamed Morsy who was sentenced to one year in jail for failing to implement a court ruling to renationalize a textile firm.
"Security forces managed to arrest Hisham Qandil, former prime minister, in carrying out a court order issued against him. He was caught in a mountain area with smugglers trying to flee to Sudan," Egypt's interior ministry said in a statement.
Qandil was appointed in July 2012 by Morsy after he won Egypt's first truly democratic elections that followed the fall of autocratic President Hosni Mubarak in 2011. Morsy was ousted by the army in July after protests against his rule.
The judgment against Qandil was issued in April 2012, while Morsy was still in office and was upheld by a higher court in September. The case related to the sale during the Mubarak era of a state-owned firm to a private investor.
The army-led government had launched a fierce crackdown on Morsy's Muslim Brotherhood group and its allies in which hundreds have been killed and thousands injured.
It has also banned the Brotherhood group, calling it "a terrorist organization."
