Aide to former Sissi challenger stabbed, beaten in Cairo

Former anti-graft chief had been on way to contest firing when attacked in suspected political retribution against Sami Anan, who had planned presidential run

CAIRO, Egypt — Assailants on Saturday stabbed and seriously wounded Egypt’s former anti-corruption chief who was also a top aide to a barred candidate for a March presidential election, his lawyer said.

Ali Taha said that Hisham Geneina was attacked by three men who “stabbed him in the face and beat him, breaking (one of) his legs,” near his Cairo home. He was admitted to hospital for treatment.

Geneina was sacked by President Abdel Fattah al-Sissi as head of the Central Auditing Authority in 2016 after he was accused of exaggerating the cost of corruption.

On Saturday he was on his way to a court hearing to contest his dismissal.

Zyad El Alaimy, a lawyer who was accompanied Geneina to a police station after the attack, said two cars arrived suddenly and men got out “and tried to kidnap him.”

A security source, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed Geneina had been wounded but said it happened during “a dispute with three young men following a car accident.”

Another security source said a piece of “metal” and a “knife” were used during the altercation.

Pictures posted online show Geneina looking weak, his left eye slashed and his left leg bloody.

This file photo taken on March 29, 2011 shows former Egyptian army chief of staff Sami Anan (R) shaking hands with then-US Commander of the Central Command James Mattis during a meeting in Cairo. (AFP PHOTO / AFP POOL / KHALED DESOUKI)

Geneina was top campaign aide to Sami Anan, a former armed forces chief of staff who this month announced he intended to stand against Sissi in the March election.

Anan’s challenge was swiftly crushed when the army accused him on Tuesday of forgery and other crimes linked to his registration as a candidate.

Sissi looks set to sweep to a second term after most of his serious challengers either ruled themselves out or were sentenced to jail terms.

An Anan campaign team member, Hazem Hosny, said the attack on Geneina was “politically motivated” — a claim rejected by the security source.

Following the accusations made by the army, Anan was summoned by the military prosecutor and since then his family and lawyers have had no news of his whereabouts, Hosny said.

He is “the victim of a forced disappearance.”

Geneina’s lawyer said he had been barred from seeing his client in hospital.