Former presidential hopeful Ahmed Tantawy was arrested on 27 May after an Egyptian appeals court upheld a one-year prison sentence on charges of forging election documents, his lawyer Khaled Ali announced on X.
Tantawy, who was present in court during the decision, was promptly taken into custody to begin serving his sentence.
The court also upheld one-year sentences for Tantawy’s campaign manager Mohamed Abu Al-Diyar and 21 campaign staff on similar charges, Ali added in a separate statement.
Tantawy, a former parliamentarian, aimed to run for president in the 2024 elections but failed to secure the necessary endorsements from at least 25,000 people, according to state media.
In November 2023, a month before the election decision, Tantawy and his staff to trial were referred to the Public Prosecution office in November 2023 on charges of printing and distributing “unauthorised” endorsement forms.
Tantawy intended for his supporters to fill out unofficial endorsement forms to present them to the election authority after allegedly facing difficulties from authorities in allowing citizens access to endorse him.
Tantawy reversed the step hours after the arrest of eight people across the governorates of Alexandria, Giza, Fayoum, and Suez.
In February 2024, a misdemeanour court sentenced Tantawy to one year in prison. Additionally, the court barred Tantawy from running in parliamentary elections for the next five years.
Ali intends to appeal the ruling for Tantawy and his staff.
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