Between politics and business... Why do the Egyptian authorities insist on imprisoning Aboul Fotouh, Safwan and Al Swerky?

CAIRO -

During the past two days, the Criminal Court renewed the imprisonment of a number of prominent Egyptian figures, led by the Egyptian politician and head of the "Strong Egypt" party, Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh, businessman owner of Juhayna Food Industries, Safwan Thabet, and his son Seif, in addition to the owner of a chain of stores. Al-Tawhid wal-Nur, Mr. Al-Swerki, for a period of 45 days, pending investigations.

Despite repeated calls from local and international personalities and bodies to release Aboul Fotouh and Al Thabet, the Egyptian authorities insist on prosecuting them on charges they use with many of their opponents, foremost of which is the charge of “participating and financing a terrorist group with knowledge and promoting its purposes.”

Despite the different backgrounds of each of them, Aboul Fotouh lived his life preoccupied with politics, while the Safwan and Al-Swerki families had little political activity, but the Egyptian authorities brought them together within the walls of their prisons.

Criticize the elections

Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh - born in Cairo on October 15, 1950 - was one of the most prominent leaders of the Islamic student movement, and after former President Anwar Sadat decided to open the university's doors to the popular classes, the new arrivals were characterized by a traditional religiosity that made them in opposition to the intellectuals of the university community The most secular.

Aboul Fotouh, who was then head of the Student Union at Cairo University, gained popularity by criticizing President Sadat in his presence during 1975, blaming him during a well-known debate for being behind Sheikh Muhammad al-Ghazali's ban from speaking.

The authorities arrested Aboul Fotouh in February 2018, after returning from London following an interview with Al-Jazeera in which he criticized the rule of current President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi prior to his re-election in March 2018, and arrested five of his aides from the Strong Egypt party. which he established following his defection from the Muslim Brotherhood, knowing that he was one of the most prominent candidates in the presidential elections that took place in 2012 and ended with the victory of the late President Mohamed Morsi.

After seizing his property, the Egyptian Public Prosecutor decided on June 20 to extend the detention of Aboul Fotouh on charges of “spreading false news that would harm the country’s reputation,” because he denounced the “lack of credibility” of the presidential elections (March 2018) that were under preparation at the time. , calling for a boycott.

And in February 2020, days before the end of the legal period for his pretrial detention, the Egyptian authorities included Aboul Fotouh in a new case, accusing him of “taking leadership of a terrorist group and committing a financing crime,” based on investigations by the National Security Agency affiliated with the Ministry of Interior.

According to his family, Aboul Fotouh suffers from many chronic diseases such as diabetes and pressure, in addition to health problems in the heart muscle, prostate, as well as severe sleep disturbances, and over a year and a half of abuse, the absence of health care for him in prison led to a clear increase in complications of these diseases.

The struggle over "Juhayna"

Although he belonged to a Brotherhood family, where his maternal grandfather was the former guide of the group, Mamoun al-Hudaybi, and his grandfather is the second guide of the group, Hassan al-Hudaybi, but the attention of the famous businessman, Safwan Thabet, focused on the economy, where he founded the “Juhayna” company, which is one It is one of the largest brands operating in the field of dairy and foodstuffs in Egypt and the Arab world, as statistics indicate that it monopolizes more than half of the Lebanese trade in Egypt.

In confirmation of his lack of connection with the Brotherhood, which the current authority banned in view of the affiliation of the late President Morsi, the company has donated to it several times to support the activities of the government since the arrival of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi to power, about a year after his leadership, the army intervened to isolate Morsi and disrupt the constitution.

The first time was when Juhayna donated 50 million pounds in 2014 to the "Long Live Egypt" fund established by Sisi, when its president, Safwan Thabet, was invited to participate in the meeting held by the Egyptian president with businessmen, and he was later honored among the top 100 Egyptian companies.

But Safwan’s donations and honoring Sisi did not satisfy him with the Egyptian authorities who arrested him, and the Supreme State Security Prosecution decided to hold him in pretrial detention pending investigations, accusing him of “financing terrorism, and participating in a group founded against the law”, then he joined him after only two months His eldest son, Saif Thabet, who took over the presidency of the company after the father's arrest.

Last September, Amnesty International condemned what it described as the "misuse of anti-terror laws" by the Egyptian authorities by arbitrarily detaining Thabet and his son "in retaliation for their refusal to hand over their company's assets" to a state-owned entity, according to the organization's statement.

The international organization said that the Egyptian authorities are holding both the founder of one of the largest dairy and juice companies in the country and his son in "conditions amounting to torture because of their refusal to give up their property."

The organization said - according to sources familiar with the situation of the company and the Thabet family - that Egyptian security officials asked Safwan before his arrest and his son to hand over part of the Juhayna Company to a government-owned entity, and Seif El-Din gave up the family's right to its shares.

Unity and light

Days after the arrest of Safwan Thabet at the end of 2020, the security services in Egypt arrested Sayed Ragab Al-Swerki, owner of the famous chain of malls "Al-Tawhid and Al-Nour", and the prosecution decided to imprison him for 15 days pending investigations with him on charges of "joining a terrorist group and financing its activities with millions of pounds." , It also froze his money and prevented his children from traveling.

Dozens of the shops of the "Tawheed and Al-Nour" chain, which was famous in Egypt for selling popular and medium products at reasonable prices, were closed against the backdrop of the rejection of the Committee for the Reservation of Funds of Terrorist Entities' grievances submitted by Al-Swerki, against the decision to seize his money, and prevent him and his family from traveling.

The branches of the “Al-Tawhid wal-Nur” shops, which were seized by the committee, whose ownership was transferred to the disposal of the government committee, reached 65 branches after the separation of Al-Swerki’s property from the rest of his family members. .