Tantawi at detention center, campaign manager released pending appeal after electoral fraud charges

After a court ruled opposition politician Ahmed Tantawi and the manager of his presidential election campaign guilty on charges of electoral fraud earlier this week, Tantawi has been moved to prison facilities in Sharqiya, and Mohamed Aboul Diyar, his campaign manager, was released on Wednesday morning after being held in detention for around 24 hours, lawyers told Mada Masr.

Diyar did not attend the Monday session of a Cairo appeals court, which upheld a ruling that he, Tantawi and 21 other campaign members already in detention should serve one-year sentences on charges that they forged presidential nomination forms.

Following the ruling in absentia against Diyar, authorities arrested the lawyer from his house in the early hours of Tuesday morning.

Diyar filed an appeal on Tuesday, and the East Cairo Prosecution in Matareya issued him a release order the following day. He was moved to the Matareya Police Station, from which he was ultimately released on Wednesday morning, lawyer Khaled Ali told Mada Masr.

Diyar is set to appear before the court again on May 3.

Tantawi, who was arrested at the Cairo appeals court immediately after the ruling was issued on Monday, was taken to the 10th of Ramandan prison facility, Ali added.

“No one informed us, but we knew about his whereabouts, and his family managed to get him clothes and some of his belongings, but they did not see him,” Ali told Mada Masr.

Tantawi and Aboul Diyar were handed a one-year imprisonment sentence in February by the Matareya Misdemeanors Court, which set bail at LE20,000. The former presidential hopeful was also prohibited from running in parliamentary elections for five years. Twenty-one members of Tantawi’s campaign also received a one-year imprisonment sentence with labor.

A round of appeals was shot down by the court earlier in May.

Tantawi’s bid to run in the 2023 presidential race was met with security restrictions. His campaign members and relatives were arrested and his supporters faced obstruction and assault while attempting to register their endorsement for his candidacy. The former presidential hopeful’s campaign then asked supporters to fill out popular endorsement forms, which led to the arrest of a number of the campaign members and the electoral fraud accusations.

The Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights condemned on Tuesday the “systematic targeting” of Tantawi and his supporters, while the Bread and Freedom Party — still under establishment — denounced “the continued silencing of voices, seeking revenge on peaceful opposition members, and the suppression of every independent voice” through the current regime’s pattern of prosecution and incarceration throughout the last decade.

Aside from the repercussions of challenging Sisi’s 11 years in power, Tantawi’s later attempt to form a political party, the Egyptian Hope Current Party, saw supporters of its establishment met with security measures. Three of them were arrested in January. 

Tantawi can still appeal the sentence at the Court of Cassation, the highest criminal court in the country.