Just In : Former Presidential Candidate To Face Trial (DETAILS)
Ahmed al-Tantawi, a former Egyptian presidential candidate, is set to face trial for distributing unauthorized endorsement forms for Egypt’s upcoming elections, according to a campaign member and human rights activists on Tuesday.
Tantawi, who withdrew his presidential bid last month due to insufficient endorsements, will be taken to criminal court on charges of “circulating election-related papers without official authorization,” as noted by prominent human rights advocate Hossam Bahgat on X (formerly Twitter).
A former member of his campaign confirmed the charges to AFP, expressing surprise that both Tantawi and the campaign manager were listed among the defendants in the case.
The former parliamentarian abandoned his presidential bid last month, alleging prolonged harassment by Egyptian authorities towards him and his campaign. Despite only garnering 14,000 endorsements out of the required 25,000, he maintained he could win against incumbent President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in a fair election.
In an effort to demonstrate his popularity, Tantawi urged his supporters last month to print copies of the endorsement form and submit them to the campaign instead of using the official forms provided by the election authority. He later retracted the call after campaign members were arrested, revealing that over 100 had been detained in the weeks leading up to his withdrawal.
The Egyptian Commission for Rights and Freedoms published a list on Tuesday of the defendants set to face trial on the same charges, with proceedings scheduled for November 28. The list includes Tantawi, his campaign manager Mohamed Aboul Deyar, and 21 other former campaigners currently in detention.
Sisi’s campaign had previously announced that the former army chief secured endorsements from 424 of Egypt’s 596 MPs, along with 1.135 million citizens. Tantawi countered that in “real elections,” Sisi would only garner less than one percent of the vote.
Sisi’s decade-long rule has been characterized by a severe crackdown on human rights, with tens of thousands of dissidents detained, according to Egyptian and international human rights organizations. He is widely anticipated to secure a third term in the upcoming elections scheduled for December 10-12, as the largely marginalized opposition has struggled to present a viable alternative.
