CAIRO — Egypt’s former antigraft chief was arrested on Tuesday, his lawyer said, the latest development in an upheaval that has roiled the country ahead of next month’s presidential election.

The lawyer, Ali Taha, said that Hesham Genena was arrested at his home in a Cairo suburb. The arrest came a day after the military said it would take action to safeguard its ‘‘honor and dignity’’ following incendiary comments by Genena in which he claimed in a television interview that former military chief of staff Sami Annan was in possession of documents incriminating the country’s leadership.

Annan was among a string of potentially serious election challengers to the incumbent, President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, to be arrested or forced out of the race.

Genena, who was to be one of Annan’s two top campaign aides, led Egypt’s top watchdog agency until el-Sissi fired him in 2016. He is the latest election-related casualty in what appears to be an intensifying campaign against dissent ahead of the vote.

On Jan. 27, Genena was assaulted by three men near his home, sustaining serious eye and knee injuries. He said in an interview last week that he suspected the attack was related to an appeal he planned to file the same day contesting the removal of Annan’s name from the list of presidential hopefuls. Authorities said at the time that he was injured in a brawl following a car accident he was involved in.

Annan himself was arrested by the military last month, days after he declared his intention to run for president. The military said he faced charges of incitement against the military and forgery. Genena said he feared for Annan’s life in detention.

ASSOCIATED PRESS