Egyptian security forces have detained former Islamist presidential candidate, Abdel Moneim Abol Fotouh for allegedly re-establishing contact with the proscribed Muslim Brotherhood group.

The country’s state security prosecutors on Wednesday ordered Abol Fotouh’s arrest over ‘spreading of fake news’ and demeaning President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi during an interview he granted Al-Jazeera.

The arrest of Abol Fotouh who got about 18 percent of the votes in the country’s first presidential elections after the 2011 uprising comes weeks before  another presidential poll in which Abdel al-Sisi will be seeking re-election for a second term.

Sanaa Ahmed, Abol Fotouh’s cousin told reporters that tens of dozens of policemen dressed in civilian clothing came to his house on Wednesday with an arrest warrant and took him away.

Abol Fotouh had quit the Muslim Brotherhood in 2011 to mount an independent bid for the presidency and had distanced himself from the group since then, two years before the group was banned following the ouster of former president Mohamed Morsi who was a senior member of the group.