Ayman Nour stays in prison
Egypt, Politics, 5/19/2006

Ayman al-Nour, Egypt's opposition al-Ghad party (Tommorow party), was rejected by the court yesterday his request to appeal his sentence, and is to continue serving a 5 year prison sentence. Nour had been jailed for allegedly forging papers that showed enough support for the party to become a legal party.

Nour had said earlier this year about his appeal that "I have appealed the ruling before the court of cassation. This ruling violated the findings, wasted the truths, contradicted the appeal provisions, and came inconsistent to logic and justice. The reasons of the ruling reveal the corruption of circumstantial evidence. The ruling made errors that make it unconstitutional and invalid in terms of the presumed certainty; the whereas derived words that we have not said, and wasted essential defenses and the right of defense. I have demanded appeal from my imprisonment."

Nour had said about his appeal "the court contradicted the findings of the claim. In fact,not only did it waste the rights of defense, but also put words on our tongues replied to them and ignored what should have been answered, given that such."

The Washington Post noted that the court upheld his conviction saying "Nour was convicted in December of forging documents needed to legalize his Tomorrow Party, even though a government commission had approved the papers in October 2004 and a witness at his trial said he was tortured into testifying against Nour."

Nour is among the most vocal critics of Mubarak. In January, Nour described his situation from jail saying "Do not believe that we have been dealt any justice, or even shame, during any stage of this farce, which we have thought could have been a trial, but have proven our naivety... Their desire to retaliate and to kill our freedom did not stop at that, they have even infringed upon our reputation and political integrity and have even tried to."

Jamila Ismaeel, Nour's wife, said most recently that the head of Nour's defense team and another lawyer on the defense team were being harrassed by the government.

The US Department Of State spokesman Sean McCormack said yesterday "The United States is deeply troubled by the case of imprisoned opposition leader Ayman Nour. The Egyptian Government's handling of this case represents both a miscarriage of justice by international standards and a setback for the democratic aspirations of the Egyptian people. We are deeply concerned by the repeated instances of police violence against peaceful demonstrators in Cairo and other places. Both Mr. Nour's ongoing detention and the Egyptian Government's handling of dissent raise serious concerns about the path of political reform and democracy in Egypt and are incongruous with the Egyptian Government's professed commitment to increase political openness and dialogue within Egyptian society. We urge the Egyptian Government to respect the rights of citizens to express their views peacefully. We note that Mr. Ayman Nour's health situation appears to be deteriorating and we once again call upon the Egyptian Government to consider his humanitarian release, as well as the release of demonstrators detained in recent weeks. We continue to follow Mr. Nour's case closely and to engage the Egyptian Government to advocate for his release and for appropriate medical care prior to that release."

McCormack said "Our fundamental problem with the process has been the Egyptian Government's handling of this. We really question, you know, really the basis for these charges to begin with. So that's -- I want to make that clear. It's not -- this isn't a commentary on the Egyptian judiciary."

McCormack said the US financial aid to Egypt would not be cut, saying "We continue to believe it's our assessment within the US Government that it is an important program from which we derive numerous benefits."

Nour said in January "we are subject to an unprecedented process of political and intellectual terrorism. You are the ones who make me believe that whatever costs I pay, are little, compared to what you have already and are still paying. We are doing this in a nation on which all the values of fear, tyranny, monopoly."

This week, al-Ghad party, headed by Nour, which is opposed to an "inheritance" system for Egypt, said about the latest revelation that Gamal Mubarak, son of Egypt's president Hosni Mubarak, had traveled to the USA in secret but that "his trip was uncovered and made public" adding that the aim of the trip was to have a deal that would "trade US support for Gamal Mubarak inherinting the rule from his dad in return for Egypt agreeing to certain US strategic objectives."

Previous Stories:
  One Egyptian judge cleared one reprimanded   (5/19/2006)
  US government report on Egypt's human rights   (3/11/2006)
  Criticism of Egypt's Ayman Nour sentence   (12/26/2005)
  Failure of the Egyptian opposition in parliamentary elections   (11/12/2005)
  Demonstration of protest against Mubarak   (9/12/2005)
  Ayman Nour criticizes Mubarak's regime, wants seperation of powers   (8/19/2005)
  Ayman Nour expects genuine change in Egypt shortly   (6/4/2005)
  Ayman Nour accuses the national party of obstructing his election campaign   (4/6/2005)
  Ayman Nour is brought before the Egyptian criminal court over falsification   (3/23/2005)
  Cairo lifts embargo from al-Ghad part paper   (3/10/2005)
  Egypt bans al-Ghad paper, its leader nominates for Presidential elections   (3/9/2005)

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