![Aboul Fotouh ran as an independent candidate in the 2012 presidential elections [File: Mohamed Abd El Ghany/Reuters]](https://static.srpcdigital.com/styles/1037xauto/public/2021/06/20/egypt_pic.jpg.webp)
Egypt’s Supreme Administrative Court rejected on Saturday an appeal to ban the activities of the Egypt Strong Party, headed by Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh.
According to the appeal, the party and any of its affiliated bodies or organizations must be banned after the arrest of its leader, the Akhbar el-Yom daily reported on its website.
Aboul Fotouh was arrested in 2018 for “inciting against the state and the constitution, calling for boycotting the presidential elections in March that year, being a member of a law-labeled terrorist group (the Muslim Brotherhood) and communicating with fugitives, destabilizing Egypt’s stability and security aiming to topple the current government, calling for chaos and spreading rumors and finally hindering the state’s organizations from practicing their role in stabling and securing the country.”
He quit the Muslim Brotherhood in 2011 to run for the presidential elections and is considered one of the leading Islamist political figures in Egypt.
He won fourth place in the 2012 presidential elections, and in June 2013, he supported protests calling for toppling Mohamed Morsi.
In November 2020, the Cairo Criminal Court included 28 defendants on its “terror list” for five years, including Abul Fotouh.
In May 2019, the South Cairo Criminal Court issued a decision to include Aboul Fotouh and others on the country’s terror list at the request of the Public Prosecutor.
The defendants were accused of “committing hostile acts against the state and its institutions and facilities.”
Article four of the Political Parties Law stipulates that “any party’s goals, programs or policies should not conflict with the basic principles of the constitution or the requirements of protecting Egyptian national security.”
It also forbids parties from choosing their members or leaders based on their religion or sect or founding any kind of military or paramilitary formations.
Political parties with a religious reference were established after the January 25, 2011 revolution. Most of them were formed under the Parties Law, which was amended in mid-2011.
