presidential candidates one year before the election.
Khaled Ali,
45, a prominent human rights lawyer who ran in Egypt's 2012 election, has
suggested he might run against President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in a presidential
election slated for 2018.
His
detention follows a spate of recent arrests that rights lawyers say has been
directed at those working with opposition figures in Egypt who have indicated
they could run against Sisi next year.
Eight
members of Ali's left-wing Bread and Freedom Party (BFP) have been detained
since April on charges including "misusing social media to incite against
the state" and "insulting the president", according to Elham
Eidarous, the party's legal advisor.
"We are
in a state of repression. Every now and then the state launches another
attack." he said. "This is happening to scare people from running for
president or even considering alternatives."
Egypt's interior
ministry denies the arrests are politically motivated.
Sisi, 62,
overthrew elected President Mohammed Mursi, a Muslim Brotherhood official, in
mid-2013 following mass protests against his rule and launched a crackdown on
Egypt's oldest Islamist movement.
He went on
to win a presidential vote in 2014.
Sisi has not
said whether he will seek re-election when his current term ends in 2018 but
has made much of his popular mandate and promised to respect the will of
Egyptians.
Ali gained
prominence in January after defending a case against a government plan to
transfer two uninhabited Red Sea islands to Saudi Arabia, a deal that prompted
protests from Egyptians.
He is being
sued by a private citizen over a photograph in which he appears to make a rude
hand gesture on the steps of a Cairo court house, according to his lawyer Malek
Adly. Ali denies the authenticity of the photo.
A judicial
source confirmed Ali had been ordered detained for 24 hours for questioning
about the incident in Cairo on Jan 16. Policemen took Ali from the court
complex he was being questioned in to a police station where he will be kept
overnight.
His
questioning will be resumed on Wednesday when a prosecutor will decide whether
to release him on bail or extend his detention.
REUTERS*
0 Comments