How Egypt’s opposition is countering Sisi ahead of presidential vote
The sentence issued against Egyptian lawyer Khaled Ali, who intends to run in the 2018 presidential elections, comes after opposition factions announced the launch of talks to agree on a consensual candidate to run against President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.
CAIRO — An Egyptian court of misdemeanors in the Giza governorate sentenced on Sept. 25 prominent human rights lawyer and potential presidential candidate Khalid Ali to three months in prison after being found guilty of offending public decency.
Ali swiftly responded, saying the case was fabricated. Following the sentence, he wrote on his Facebook page, “When we addressed the Egyptian issue of Tiran and Sanafir, we knew we would have to pay for it.”
Ali became well known after he succeeded on Jan. 16 in obtaining a ruling that nullifies the agreement ceding sovereignty over the Red Sea islands of Tiran and Sanafir to Saudi Arabia. However, the transfer was later approved by parliament in June of this year.
“The ruling completely ignored the defense; the lawyers were allowed to present neither arguments nor technical reports to prove video manipulation,” said Ali, noting that he will challenge the ruling issued against him after the release of a video in which he appears to be making a hand gesture deemed offensive to public decency. The video was originally taken following the issuance of the Tiran and Sanafir verdict, as Ali was celebrating with a crowd of his supporters who carried him on their shoulders.
