01 Sep 2021; MEMO: Egypt's Supreme State Security Prosecution (SSSP) yesterday referred the former presidential candidate and head of the Strong Egypt Party, Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh, to the criminal court on charges of "leading a terrorist group".
Local media quoted the defendant's lawyer, Ahmed Abul Ela Madi, as saying that the "prosecution had referred Aboul Fotouh, along with his deputy, Mohamed Al-Kassas."
Aboul Fotouh's arrest in 2018 came one day after his return from a trip to London, during which he was interviewed by the Qatari satellite channel Al Jazeera. In the interview, he criticised current Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi, who orchestrated a bloody military coup against the democratically elected President Mohamed Morsi in 2013.
He has previously been detained more than once under the government of long time Egyptian dictator Hosni Mubarak.
