New terrorism charges leveled against Abouel Fotouh as he serves current prison sentence

Former presidential candidate and head of the Strong Egypt Party Abdel Moneim Abouel Fotouh was summoned on Wednesday by the Supreme State Security Prosecution for questioning on new charges of running a terrorist group from prison, his lawyer Nabih al-Genady told Mada Masr.

Abouel Fotouh is currently serving a 15-year prison sentence for allegedly “leading a terrorist group.”

Genady noted that the new charges are pending Case 786/2020, an investigation dating back to 2020 and to which Abouel Fotouh was added as a suspect without either he or his lawyers being informed.

The prosecution questioned Abouel Fotouh on Wednesday in relation to charges of “leading and funding a terrorist group from prison” and issued a 15-day detention order against him — to be implemented once his current prison sentence lapses — pending the investigation.

Genady believes the new investigation preludes Abouel Fotouh’s referral to yet another trial, during which he will most likely be given a new prison sentence that will run consecutively to the one he is currently serving. 

Abouel Fotouh once headed the Strong Egypt Party, which sought to marry left and liberal groups with Islamist movements, mounting a campaign for the 2012 presidential election.

Abouel Fotouh’s current sentence is set to end in 2033, taking into account the three years he spent in remand detention since his arrest in February 2018 — long over the legal limit of two years.

He was referred to trial in August 2021 before an emergency state security court, just two months shy of the years-long state of emergency’s expiration. 

Abouel Fotouh was convicted of ten charges in May 2022, including “leadership in the terrorist Brotherhood group.” The Muslim Brotherhood, of which Abouel Fotouh was a member until leaving the party in the 1990s, is classified as a terrorist organization in Egypt.

Abouel Fotouh was also convicted of “collecting, receiving, possessing, supplying, transferring and providing money and weapons” to the Muslim Brotherhood, providing a safe haven for terrorists, “creating and providing a headquarters for traditional weapons training” and promoting the Islamist group.

He was also convicted of “broadcasting false news” and promoting terrorist acts, with court notes pointing to an appearance he made on Al Jazeera in which he argued that “terrorist acts are revenge for an injustice that occurred to the families of their perpetrators” and stated that ceding the Red Sea islands of Tiran and Sanafir was done to serve the interests of a foreign country, as well as a BBC interview in which he said the state was responsible for forced disappearances.

The three remaining charges included the possession of two automatic rifles, two firearms, a shotgun and ammunition without a license.