Egypt trying to kill jailed ex-presidential candidate, his son says

Ahmed Abdel Moneim, son of former Egyptian presidential candidate Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh, yesterday accused Egyptian authorities of attempting to kill his father.

Taking to Facebook, Ahmed said that the officer who moved his father from Torah Prison to Badr Prison attempted to kill him.

“He was moved without clothes or cover,” Ahmed wrote. “He was put inside a well lit solitary cell monitored with cameras all the time without a bed or a chair.”

“My father did not receive any healthcare for eight days despite his critical health conditions.”

At the same time, he said that no member of his family had visited his father for three years.

In a previous post on Facebook, Ahmed stated that his father had written his will and said that his health was very bad.

READ: Egypt to release 70 detainees held on remand

Aboul Fotouh, who is in his seventies, was arrested in 2018 after criticising the government and calling for a boycott of the presidential elections in a series of media interviews.

He was added to the terror list, had a travel ban imposed on him, and his assets were frozen. Inside prison he has been held in solitary confinement without adequate access to sunlight and fresh air.

With access to the prison library prohibited, no TV, books or magazine, his family say he is being abused in prison mentally and physically.

Aboul Fotouh was held in pretrial detention since his arrest, beyond the two-year limit stipulated by Egyptian law, until the spring of this year.

In May he was sentenced to 15 years in a maximum-security prison for “founding a terror organisation.” He suffers from heart disease, advanced prostate disease and kidney and bladder stones.

His son, who has been outspoken about his father’s treatment in prison, has said he is being subjected to “slow murder” in jail.

In January, UN experts expressed grave concern over Aboul Fotouh’s poor health and called on Egyptian authorities to provide updated and detailed information on the Strong Party leader.

READ: Egypt raises traffic fines up to 100% retroactively