An NGO denounces the arrest of two uncles of the opposition Ahmed Tantawi, a possible candidate for the elections in Egypt

May 4. (EUROPE PRESS) –

The executive director of the NGO Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR), Hossam Bahgat, denounced on Thursday the arrest of two uncles of former parliamentarian and opposition member Ahmed Tantawi, a possible candidate for the 2024 elections in Egypt after the government had inaugurated the so-called National Dialogue.

“The former deputy announced in March his intention to return from Lebanon the day after tomorrow, Saturday May 6, and stand for the next presidential elections,” he indicated on his official Twitter profile, adding that the detainees have appeared before the Prosecutor’s Office of State Security in New Cairo.

In addition to arresting two of his uncles, the security forces have also carried out a wave of arrests against several of his friends and supporters, including at least six people, Bahgat has denounced on the aforementioned social network.

Tantawi, former leader of the Karam Party (Party of Dignity), left Egypt in August after receiving pressure to show his rejection of the National Dialogue initiative, which allegedly seeks to incorporate the opposition to return to a kind of democratic process in the country. according to the opposition newspaper ‘Mada Masr’.

This comes one day after the Egyptian president, Abdelfatá al Sisi, inaugurated the initiative, which aims to exchange points of view with different actors from civil society, human rights organizations and political parties from across the ideological spectrum.