Human rights lawyer and former presidential candidate Khaled Ali was picked up for questioning by the Prosecutor General for questioning on public morals charges, reports Al Masry Al Youm. Al Shorouk had initially reported that Ali was being questioned on accusations of promoting a political party that is yet to be founded — the Bread and Freedom Party. Ali had been a vocal opponent of agreement to hand Tiran and Sanafir islands to Saudi Arabia and has been suggested as a likely contender for the presidency in 2018. Wire coverage of his arrest (see Reuters and the AP) is getting wide pickup.

In other news from the campaign trail: Ahmed Shafik, the former presidential candidate and Hosni Mubarak’s last prime minister, is “leaning towards” running for president again, the vice president of Shafik’s Egyptian Patriotic Movement tells Al Shorouk. According to Raouf El Sayed, Shafik has yet to make a formal announcement of his 2018 intentions because election proceedings have not begun. Shafik had denied last year in a series of tweets (here and here) that he was considering running for office.