Sabahi’s Campaign Denounces Violence Against Members
The official campaign of presidential hopeful Hamdeen Sabahi issued a statement on Tuesday in which it listed incidents of members being subjected to various assaults, including some by the campaign of their rival candidate Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi.
According to the statement, 11 of its campaign members were attacked by El-Sisi’s campaign in the town of Faqous in Nile Delta’s Sharqiya governorate. Some of the injured campaigners, who filed a report of the assault, were allegedly attacked with bladed weapons.
In east Cairo’s Alf Maskan district, members of the Constitution Party – which is backing Sabahi in the poll – were also attacked by alleged members of the Muslim Brotherhood, according to Sabahi’s campaign, with one party member left injured.
The campaign also accused security forces of attacking and chasing down a number of doctors while they were campaigning for the leftist candidate in front of Gamal Abdel-Nasser Hospital in Cairo.
“The campaign calls on the interior ministry to protect campaign members from these systematic attacks,” said the campaign, adding that it will not be silenced over such assaults, which it says affects the credibility and transparency of the presidential election.
The campaign’s legal committee will take the necessary “legal procedures to protect its members”, added the statement.
The country’s presidential race – the first since the ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi last July – will take place on 26 and 27 May.
The poll is featuring only Sabahi and El-Sisi.
Last Saturday, four people were injured when a bomb was thrown at an election rally in support of El-Sisi in the Ain Shams district of Cairo.
A security source said that an unidentified assailant threw the device into the audience as the rally was ending.
It was the second attack on an event supporting the ex-minister of defence. On 5 May, canopies hosting a pro-Sisi conference caught fire after unknown assailants threw Molotov cocktails before the event started in the Nile Delta’s Damietta.
Source : Ahram online
