The Cairo Criminal Court on Sunday ordered former-presidential candidate and head of the “Strong Egypt Party” Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh be detained for a further 45 days, having been accused of leading a terrorist group.
Egyptian security forces arrested Fotouh on February 14, 2018 for alleged ties with Egypt’s outlawed Muslim Brotherhood. He was also accused of spreading false news against state institutions.
He was taken away upon his return home from London, where he reportedly gave an interview to Qatari owned Al-Jazeera criticizing state policies and President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi.
A prominent opposition figure, Fotouh led calls in January 2018 to boycott the presidential election. Sisi ran against a sole competitor, Moussa Mostafa Moussa, a staunch Sisi supporter.
The prosecution earlier ordered Fotouh be detained 45 days pending investigations.
The Interior Ministry said in a statement in February that it had monitored communication between Fotouh and the Muslim Brotherhood group in and outside the country.
The ministry said that the communication sought to implement a scheme aimed to stir up confusion and instability, in conjunction with armed groups carrying out acts of sabotage against vital state institutions, seeking to create chaos that would enable them to return to the top of the political scene.
Prosecutor-General Nabil Sadek ordered the seizure of Fotouh’s funds among other individuals after the prosecution put their names on the terrorist list.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
