Egyptian rights lawyer to run for President

Egyptian rights lawyer Khaled Ali has announced that he will challenge President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi in the 2018 elections, a media report said.

"We decided today to start our campaign in preparation for my candidacy in the presidential elections," Xinhua news agency quoted Ali as saying at a press conference on Monday.

"We will strive to snatch guarantees for the integrity of the presidential elections."

The lawyer was in September sentenced to three months in jail due to a case related to a reportedly rude and obscene hand gesture he made after a court order, which he has already appealed, but it still raises a possibility for his disqualification as a presidential candidate.

Ali was among the leading figures, who opposed Egypt's handover of the two controversial Red Sea islands of Tiran and Sanafir to Saudi Arabia earlier this year.

The rights lawyer ran for President in 2012 elections.

--IANS

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