Aboul Fotouh ordered detained for 15 days over incitement

CAIRO - 15 February 2018: Muslim Brotherhood (MB) dissident and former presidential candidate Abdel-Moneim Aboul Fotouh has been ordered detained for 15 days following an investigation by the National Security prosecution. He was arrested Wednesday night over six charges, including incitement.

The list of charges include, “inciting against the state and the constitution, call for boycotting the upcoming Presidential elections in March, being a member of a law-labeled terrorist group and communicating with fugitives, destabilizing Egypt’s stability and security aiming to topple the current regime, calling for chaos and spreading rumors and finally hindering the state’s organizations from practicing their role regarding stabling and securing the country.”

On Monday, an Egyptian lawyer submitted an official complaint to the public prosecutor, calling for the arrest of Aboul Fotouh, after appearing on an Al Jazeera television show from London. Lawyer Samir Sabry accused Aboul Fotouh of “spreading fake news” and demeaning Egyptian President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi.

Aboul Fotouh was one of many who announced years ago, specifically after 2011 their abandoning of the MB due to crucial differences between the group’s thoughts and their own. The main reason behind his dispute with the MB after years of cooperating, was announcing his intentions to run for presidency 2012.

He succeed to gain the support of huge number of Egyptians including several celebrates. However, he didn’t become president despite getting about 4 million votes, as Mohamed Morsi won in that year.

Despite his disputes with the legally-labeled terrorist, Muslim Brotherhood group, many politicians still think that he has strong relations with them.

Former Brotherhood leader, who split from the group in 2002, Tharwat al-Kherbawy said in statements on Wednesday night to DMC channel that Aboul Fotouh is going to be tried due to being a member of a terrorist group, not just because of his connections with them.

“He never split from them, despite pretending the opposite. He still has strong connections with them, and can’t really judge anything properly,” Kherbawy added.

He explained that Aboul Fotouh traveled to London for almost two months during the last period and met several members of the group’s international office.”During his meeting with them he attacked the current regime and accused it of violating human rights.”

Furthermore, Kherbawy noted that Aboul Fotouh’s real intentions are to create chaos inside the country to affect the Egyptians people. “Without chaos they won’t ever be able to come back to the country.”

Sources told Egypt Today on Thursday that Aboul Fotouh’s connections with the MB during the past period was a kind of preparation for a huge plan that aims to target the state’s stability during the coming presidential elections.

“His interview with al Jazeera-Qatari channel was just a cover fora secret trip to London. The real purpose was meeting several MB leaders and comeback to implement their targets,” the sources added.

According to the source, Aboul Fotouh would have used his political party Masr al-Kawya (Strong Egypt Party) in implementing the MB plans.”He has always dreamed of getting back with them again as a leader,” the sources added.

Masr al-Kawya is an Egyptian centrist political party founded in 2012 by Aboul Fotouh. It played a key role after the revolution and the era of Muslim brotherhood affiliated-Mohamed Morsi, However after labeling the group legally as terrorist, the party’s supporters and influence gradually faded.

During his interview with al-Jazeera, on Saturday February 11, Aboul Fotouh said that he didn’t nominate himself for the upcoming elections in March because he doesn’t think there will be real elections in Egypt. “The most important condition for any elections is his having an environment that allows competition. This is not the situation in Egypt,” he added.


Aboul Fotouh during interview with al-Jazeera, on February 11, 2018
On Tuesday, January 28, five political figures released a joint statement calling for Egyptians to boycott the process because the elections will not be fair.

The figures include Aboul Fotouh; former parliament member and chairman of the Reform and Development Party Mohamed Anwar Al-Sadat; former science consultant for the presidency Essam Heggy; former chairman of the Central Auditing Authority Hisham Genena; and political science professor Hazem Hosni.

The five political personnel expressed in the statement their discontent with alleged security and administrative practices undertaken to inhibit competition in the upcoming election. However, they did not mention any details about the allegations.

Al-Jazeera has a long history of inciting violence against Egypt. Shutting down al-Jazeera is one of Egypt’s and the quartet countries’ (Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the UAE) main demands to restore the diplomatic relations with Qatar.