Opposition politician departs Egypt in face of security pressure

Ahmed Tantawi, former Karama Party head and one of the most vocal critics of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in the months since a national dialogue was announced, left the country in recent weeks due to security pressure, according to three members of the Karama Party. 

Tantawi, a former MP, traveled to Beirut after state security bodies gave instructions for him to step away from public commentary, according to sources. 

Since the president called for the National Dialogue in April, heralding it as a forum for political inclusivity and discussion, Tantawi has been vocally critical of the initiative. He has given interviews to BBC Arabic and Mada Masr, as well as written opinion articles for the independent outlet Al-Manassa, expressing cynicism regarding the inclusivity and transparency of the National Dialogue process and criticizing Sisi for overstepping presidential term limits, a reference to the 2018 constitutional amendments which revised the constitutionally mandated cap on a president’s time in office. Tantawi called for Egyptians to be allowed to elect a new president. 

The marginalization of the former MP is yet another sign that the administration’s public-facing gestures of inclusivity toward a handpicked opposition are more tightly managed behind the scenes and have clear red lines. 

Mada Masr reached out to Tantawi for comment, but he had not responded at the time of publication. 

The security pressure on Tantawi came in the form of several messages sent to former presidential candidate Hamdeen Sabbahi from a state official. According to the first senior Karama Party source, Sabbahi was told that Tantawi should retreat from political affairs as his stature and his criticism could derail the progress of the National Dialogue. In return for marginalizing Tantawi, according to the party member, promises were given to have hundreds of detainees released. 

Pressure for Tantawi to be silenced grew, said the sources, after an op-ed penned by the former MP under the title “How to impeach the president of the republic” was published on July 14 by Al-Manassa. The article detailed a legislative campaign undertaken by Tantawi during his time in office between 2015 and 2019, through which he sought to establish the grounds and pathways for the investigation and impeachment of the president and senior state officials.

Al-Manassa announced on July 14 that access to its content had once again been blocked on Egyptian internet service providers — the thirteenth time a block has been implemented against the website since 2017. 

Senior members of the Karama Party were frustrated by Tantawi’s column, according to the party sources, who characterized its publication as grandstanding and resented what they perceived to be the way it implicated the party in personal disputes. 

Following party infighting, which included disputes between Tantawi and several senior members of the party, the former MP resigned from his party leadership position in mid July. The party’s deputy leader assumed leadership duties pending party elections scheduled for August 19. 

Tantawi published a post on his personal Facebook page on August 5, announcing that he would no longer be publishing content with Al-Manassa and apologizing to readers for the website block, which he said was put in place after the publication of one of his articles. 

Amid the mounting pressure, those close to Tantawi advised him to leave the country, fearing that he would face some kind of reprisal, said the second senior Karama Party source, with Sabbahi inviting him to attend an event held by the Arab National Congress in Beirut at the end of July, an offer that Tantawi accepted. 

Tantawi was not deported or exiled, nor threatened with imprisonment, according to a member of the Civil Democratic Movement, a coalition of liberal parties that includes the Karama Party. Tantawi traveled to Lebanon with the intention of organizing his affairs from there and either pursuing a doctorate outside of Egypt or returning to Cairo in a number of months, said the movement member, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Despite officials’ repeated insistence that the National Dialogue is a forum for broad inclusion, there have been signs of a tightly controlled space of sanctioned criticism. In March, Mada Masr reported that United Media Services, an intelligence-owned conglomerate that dominates the domestic press landscape, banned the newspapers and TV channels it manages from hosting leading Civil Democratic Movement figures.