Egypt: ex-presidential candidate found guilty of forgery

Former Egyptian presidential hopeful Ahmed Tantawi was found guilty on Tuesday of forging election documents, Reuters has reported. Tantawi was given a one-year suspended prison sentence and fined 20,000 Egyptian pounds.

According to four security and judiciary sources he was also barred from standing in future local, parliamentary and presidential elections for five years. The next presidential election is expected in 2030.

Twenty-one members of Tantawi’s election campaign were handed a one-year sentence with labour, in a continuation of a decade-long crackdown on opposition activists under President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi.

Tantawi, who emerged as the most popular potential challenger in the election last year, pulled out after failing to receive enough signatures required to certify his candidacy. As part of his campaign, he distributed copies of the form needed for supporters to endorse him, as his team said that they had been blocked from completing the forms in government offices. Shortly after withdrawing from the race, he was charged with forgery.

During the campaign for the 2023 election, which Sisi won with nearly 90 per cent of the vote, Tantawi said that dozens of his family members and allies were arrested. The Egyptian authorities have denied violations in the election process, and claim that they do not hold political prisoners.

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