Date: Jan 25, 2018 Source: The Daily Star Rights lawyer latest to withdraw from Egypt’s presidential race CAIRO: Human rights lawyer Khaled Ali said Wednesday that he is quitting the race to become Egypt’s president, citing reasons including the arrest of some of his election campaign activists and a tight timetable. “Today we announce our decision that we will not run in this race,” Ali said at a news conference in Cairo. He had yet to submit his candidacy for the March 26-28 election. From the start, he said, “our announcement was met with an angry and irresponsible reaction, manifesting in the arrest of a large number of the campaign’s youth.” The arrests had started a few months “before we officially announced our intent to run ... with some referred to urgent trials,” the rights lawyer said. The very short timetable did not allow for a fair climate for all the candidates to gather the needed signatures in time before next Monday’s deadline, he said. The 45-year-old Ali rose to national prominence last year when he won a case that nullified an unpopular government transfer of two Red Sea islands to Saudi Arabia, a deal that had prompted rare mass protests. The majority of those hoping to challenge incumbent President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi in the election have either ruled themselves out or been sentenced to prison in the past few weeks. In the last such move, authorities Tuesday detained Sisi’s last serious rival, former military chief of staff Lt. Gen. Sami Annan, after the army accused him of breaking the law by running for office without permission. His campaign was halted in its tracks. “There has been stubbornness by the electoral commission and many violations against the other candidate,” Ali said, referring to Annan. Amnesty International said this was a “brazen attack” on political participation and freedom of expression. Egyptian authorities were “hell-bent” on arresting and harassing anyone who stood against Sisi, Amnesty said. Earlier Wednesday, Sisi officially launched his bid for a second term in office.