More bad news for Abou El-Fotouh and his party :Officially on terror list

Egypt’s ministry of interior announced on Wednesday that it arrested 6 fugitives from the banned Muslim Brotherhood at a ranch in El-Behaira’s Wadi Al-Natron allegedly owned by Abdel Moneim Abou El-Fotouh in the latest bad news for the former Presidential candidate following his arrest last week !!

In a quick reaction, Abou El-Fotouh’s family issued an official statement denying that he owns a ranch or an agricultural land in El-Behaira governorate or any other place.
The statement added that his wife Dr. Aliya Khalil was the one that owned an agricultural land in El-Bahaira governorate but not in Wadi Al-Natron and that she had leased it for a farmer for 9 years since 2013.

Abdel Moneim and his supporters at the registeration
of his party in Cairo in 2012 

Abou El-Fotouh’s family made it clear that his wife had no knowledge about what was happening in that land since 2013.

Abou El-Fotouhs have been very active in defending the leader of Strong Egypt Party refuting the interior ministry’s statements since his arrest like the first statement accusing him of meeting MB leaders in London early February.

His family released a statement stating that he traveled to London to participate in a lecture organized by former leading MB figure Kamel El-Hellbawy “who is currently a member in Egypt’s quasi-official National Council for human rights and a big Sisi supporter” about the current situation in Egypt and he already announced on his official FB page.
The statement interestingly reminded the government that Abou El-Fotouh defected unofficially from the brotherhood in 2009 and that defection became official in 2011.

There is more bad news coming for Egyptian former Presidential candidate Abdel Moneim Abou El-Fotouh and his party “Strong Egypt” after his arrest on Wednesday.
On Tuesday, a Cairo criminal court designated him as a terrorist per a request of High State security prosecution.
Four university students from Strong Egypt movement in the Universities are reportedly on the list.
Accordingly, all his assets will be frozen. The court ruling is appealable.


Saturday evening members of Strong Egypt Party reported to the media that a police force confiscated the “Strong Egypt” Party Headquarter in Cairo without any judicial order.
This has got an ominous meaning especially Pro-regime news websites and state-owned newspapers claimed on the same day that the Parties committee was looking into the Party’s case.
On Sunday, members of the Parties committee told Shorouk Daily that they were not looking into Strong Egypt Party’s case because they have not got any reports from the Prosecution or complaints about it.

It turned out on the same day, lawyer Samir Sabry presented a petition to the Prosecutor general to designate Abdel Fotouh as a terrorist and his party as a terrorist organization.
It is worth to mention that following the arrest of Abdel Moneim Abou El-Fotouh and his deputy Mohamed El-Kassas within one week, the Political office decided to freeze the Party’s political activities.
The political office called for an urgent meeting of the Party’s general assembly.
TV hosts like Lamis El-Hadidy are promoting lies that Strong Egypt Party is a religious party which should be disbanded according to current Egyptian Constitution.
This is a lie, Strong Egypt Party is not a religious party like for instance Al-Nour Party which should be disbanded according to the Constitution but is kept to please the Salafists despite the fact I believe that it lost them.
Yes, its founder and some of its co-founding members are former MB members but bylaws, goals and objectives are speaking about a social democratic party.
It is already too close to the Constitution Party which was founded by ElBaradei as a social liberal party.

Rights researcher at Egyptian Initiative For personal rights “EIPR” Amr Ezzat said in a post on his verified Facebook account that Strong Egypt Party has had a very democratic view about religious freedom in Egypt more than many so-called civilian parties. He even added that the Party was against religious totalitarianism of religious institutions in Egypt.

In his last interviews in London as well in Cairo, Abu El-Fotouh made it clearly that he separated between politics and religion demanding Al-Azhar, the Egyptian Coptic Orthodox Church and the Muslim Brotherhood to stop meddling in politics and stick to worship.

Now if Strong Egypt Party is disbanded, it will be a true loss for Egypt and its already dead partisan political life.
It has a potential to play an important role if we will ever again have a true partisan political life.
By the way, I can not ignore how other so-called Pro-democratic parties under Hamdeen Sabbahi’s umbrella used to ignore Strong Egypt and its members because of Abou El-Fotouh’s past connection with the Brotherhood.
I believe those parties could have protected Strong Egypt party against the attacks of the regime and its media if they included it in their coalition.
BY the way, the same goes for April 6 Youth and Revolutionary Socialists movements.
They have always considered them pariah not to be included in their statements or press conferences.
It is worth to mention that I have not seen any escalation to support Abou El-Fotouh from those parties other than statements are completely ignored.

I cannot think of what they can do now but surely they can stir things a little bit.
It is worrying as there are rumors that the arrest of Hisham Geneina and Abou El-Fotouh is just the beginning of a wide crackdown against politicians and activists in the country from Pro-25 January supporters.

Since early morning I have been reading that prominent human rights activist and founder of Cairo Institute for Human Rights studies “CIHRS” Bahey El-Din Hassan got a tip that not less than 336 politicians and activists are going to be arrested soon.