Human Rights Watch urges Egypt to halt pre-election arrests
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CAIRO - Human Rights Watch sharply criticized Egyptian authorities on Monday for a series of "arbitrary" arrests of political opponents of President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi ahead of next month's presidential election, which the watchdog considers "unfair."
In a statement, HRW urged for the release of Abdel-Monaem Abul Fetouh, a 2012 presidential candidate and prominent Islamist detained earlier this month along with several party leaders and placed on a "terrorism list" that bans them from travel and freezes their assets over alleged links to the now-outlawed Muslim Brotherhood group.
US-based HRW says the intensifying repression and the use of terrorism-related charges against peaceful activists reflect a government strategy to silence critical voices ahead of the election.
"Abul Fetouh's arrest underlines the government message that criticizing President el-Sissi in the lead-up to the presidential elections is forbidden," said Sarah Leah Whitson, the group's Middle East and North Africa director. "Elections should stimulate political debate and reflect the popular will, but al-Sissi's government wants to ensure with its heavy-handed repression that this is not the case in Egypt."
