A prominent Egyptian lawyer said that the Supreme State Security Prosecution decided to release Mohamed al-Qassas, the deputy head of the Strong Egypt Party (opposition) Abdel Moneim Abu El Fotouh.

Lawyer and human rights activist Khaled Ali explained that "the Supreme State Security Prosecution (concerned with national security issues) decided today to release the retribution after 22 months of his remand," without detailing.

In February 2018, Egyptian security forces arrested Qassas, one of the most prominent youth of the January 25, 2011 revolution, after he called for a boycott of the last presidential elections last year, which had been won by incumbent President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.

Since his arrest, the prosecution issued decisions to remand him in custody on charges that he denied were true, including "spreading rumors and joining a group in contravention of the law."

The powerful Egypt Party is headed by Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh, who has been in custody since mid-February 2018 pending an investigation with him on charges he denied, including "leading and reviving a banned group (not identified by the prosecution) and publishing false news."

Abul Fotouh is one of the most prominent politicians in Egypt, and he was arrested more than once during the era of former President Hosni Mubarak, and he was one of the symbols of the Muslim Brotherhood before he seceded from it and ran independently in the Egyptian presidential elections in 2012.