Ahmed Eltantawy, a former member of parliament, reported on Thursday that two male relatives and three acquaintances had been detained by the Egyptian government in preparation for his planned run for President.
By phone from Beirut, Eltantawy told newsmen that the arrests had taken place on Tuesday but declined to provide any other information. No one from the interior ministry of Egypt could be reached for comment right away.
At least 10 of Eltantawy’s acquaintances, family, and supporters, including two uncles, according to Nabeh Elganadi, a lawyer with the independent Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR), had been detained. He stated that they will be detained for 15 days before being questioned by the State Security Prosecution about allegations such as joining a terrorist organisation.
Prior to 2020, Eltantawy served as the former leader of the leftist Karama party and was a well-known and comparatively independent member of Egypt’s parliament, which was overwhelmingly pro-government.
He claimed to have spent the previous few months working on a degree in academia in Beirut.
He had stated that he would compete in the 2024 presidential elections “to offer the civil democratic alternative” in a Facebook post from March. He also stated that he would be going back to Egypt in the first week of May.
Even though he didn’t think the election would be free and fair, Eltantawy informed reporters last month that he planned to run.
“This is the path to safe change, and whoever closes this door in the faces of citizens pushes them to search for other paths which the country cannot bear,” he said.
Reports of the arrests come as Egypt has begun a national political discussion that, according to the authorities, will promote the expression of many viewpoints during a period of intense economic stress.
The debate is also one of several actions that seem to be intended to address criticism of Egypt’s record on human rights following a protracted crackdown on dissent under President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi that rights groups claim resulted in tens of thousands of arrests.
Mohamed Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt’s first democratically elected president, was overthrown by Sisi in 2013 amid demonstrations.
Before his term was lengthened to six years by constitutional amendments, he won the 2014 and 2018 presidential elections with 97% of the vote in each.
