Egypt detains Islamist party leader over anti-state remarks – Report
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Detention
Cairo, Feb. 15, 2018 (dpa/NAN) Egyptian prosecutors on Thursday ordered the detention of Abdul Fotouh, the head of an Islamist party and a former presidential aspirant for 15 days pending further questioning over alleged incitement against government institutions.
State-owned newspaper al-Ahram reported that the decision was made by the high state security prosecution following an investigation.
Fotouh, an outspoken government critic, and several aides of his Egypt Strong Party were arrested on Wednesday over suspected links to the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood.
The party said aides were later released on Thursday while Fotouh remained in custody.
Legal sources said Fotouh is also accused of making comments against the army and police in an interview with Qatari broadcaster Al Jazeera, which Egyptian authorities accuse of being a mouthpiece of the Muslim Brotherhood.
“Egypt’s chief prosecutor ordered that Fotouh be investigated for purportedly raising doubts about the credibility of the country’s presidential election due in March,’’ the sources said.
In Thursday’s investigation, the 66-year-old politician denied the accusations.
He said his remarks were part of his work as an opposition party leader, private newspaper al-Masry al-Youm reported.
Fotouh was among several opposition politicians who last month called for a boycott of the elections, which President Abdul Fattah al-Sissi is virtually certain to win.
In 2011, he left the Muslim Brotherhood and unsuccessfully ran as an independent candidate in the presidential vote the following year.
His detention comes days after police arrested Hisham Geneina, the former head of the government’s anti-graft agency, for allegedly making remarks against the state. (dpa/NAN)
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Edited by Celine-Damilola Oyewole/Felix Ajide