Former PM Qandil arrested on desert road en route to Sudan

Former Prime Minister and Muslim Brotherhood loyalist Hesham Qandil was arrested on a remote desert road while attempting to escape to Sudan, security forces announced late Tuesday.

Qandil was admitted to Tora prison on Wednesday morning, the official Middle East News Agency reported.

His arrest comes as part of a campaign targeting the leading figures of Morsi’s regime. Qandil, 51, was sentenced to one year in prison for failing to impose a court order won by workers in the Nile Cotton Ginning Company in Tanta to undo the privatization of the company.

Photographs circulating on social media and news portals showed Qandil after his arrest, blindfolded and almost unrecognizable without his moustache and beard.

While some social media commentators called the former official “a terrorist” and celebrated his arrest, others denounced what they considered to be an unnecessary breach to his dignity.

In September 2011, the administrative court ruled in favor of the workers, deeming the privatization of the company illegal and ordering its return to the state; workers were also to be reinstated in the positions they held before the company’s privatization in 2005.

While he was still prime minister, a misdemeanors court sentenced Qandil to one year in prison and removal from his post for failing to uphold the court order. On July 3, the day that Morsi was forcibly removed from the presidency, the court rejected Qandil’s appeal and confirmed the sentence.

But Qandil persisted in his claim to the position, resigning on July 8 in protest against the violence used against pro-Morsi demonstrators.

Mohamed Morsi appointed Qandil as prime minister in July 2012 to form the first Cabinet under his short rule. Qandil had previously served as minister of irrigation in Essam Sharaf’s government. He was considered a Muslim Brotherhood loyalist.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) issued a statement on Wednesday reporting that five senior presidential aids to Morsi were finally transported to Tora Prison on December 17, after being held in a secret location since July 3.

HRW condemned the illegal treatment of the former senior officials, asserting that they have not been granted the right to communicate with their families or lawyers.

The group reported that Khaled al-Kazzaz, the former assistant to the president for foreign affairs, Abdel Meguid al-Meshaly, the former presidential media consultant, and Ayman al-Serafy, the former secretary of the president’s office, were all transferred to Akrab maximum security prison in Tora prison complex on December 17.

Essam al-Haddad, former assistant to the president for foreign affairs, and Ayman Aly, former president deputy for expatriate affairs were also transported to the same prison on December 21.