Egyptian activist arrested after calling for referendum to recall President Al-Sissi

Egyptian police on Thursday arrested a prominent opposition activist because he called for a referendum to decide whether President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sissi should stay in power.

Masoum Marzouk, a former diplomat, was arrested at his Cairo home.

His whereabouts remain unknown, said Mohammed Samy, the Head of the Opposition Al-Karama Party.

Sanny said two other activists were also arrested at their houses.

A source at the Interior Ministry, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed that Marzouk, and a second activist, a member of al-Karama Party, were arrested.

So far, there has been no official comment from the government on the reported arrests.

Earlier this month, Marzouk, a senior leader in the secular grouping the Popular Current, angered Al-Sissi’s loyalists with his call for an early presidential election.

The call was made months after al-Sissi won a second term in elections that only pitted him against a self-declared loyalist.

Hundreds of secular and Islamist opposition figures have been rounded up in Egypt since 2013 when the army, then led by Al-Sissi, deposed the country’s first democratically elected, but divisive, president, Mohammed Morsi, following mass street protests against his rule.