ImIn retaliation to challenging the sitting president, and then main candidate, [[Abdel Fattah el-Sisi]], El-Sisi's government issued an arrest warrant against Tantawi in an alleged case of forgery. Tantawi and his electoral campaign manager, [[Mohamed Abu El-Diyar]], were sentenced initially to two years in prison but the court ordered them to pay a bail of 20,000 [[Egyptian pound|Egyptian pounds]] (almost US$645) each for the sentence to be suspended and [[Appeal|appealed]] later before a higher court.<ref>{{cite web |title=Egypt: Court Punishes Activists for Challenging al-Sisi |url=https://www.hrw.org/news/2024/02/08/egypt-court-punishes-activists-challenging-al-sisi |publisher=Human Rights Watch |access-date=15 February 2024 |date=2024-02-08}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Mansour |first1=Thaer |title=Egypt sentences ex-presidential candidate Ahmed Tantawi to a year in prison for 'unauthorised endorsements' |url=https://www.newarab.com/news/egyptian-court-sentences-ahmed-tantawi-year-prison |website=The New Arab |access-date=15 February 2024 |date=2024-02-07}}</ref> On the 27 May 2024, in a final ruling the court sentenced Tantawi to one year in prison and a five year ban from contesting presidential elections.<ref>{{Cite news |date= |title=التحفظ على أحمد الطنطاوي وآخرين في المحكمة بعد رفض استئنافهم في قضية التوكيلات |url=https://www.almasryalyoum.com/news/details/3179500 |url-status=live}}</ref>
