Saad Eddine Ibrahim intends to monitor the elections

Egyptian activist Saad Eddine Ibrahim said on Saturday he intends to monitor the parliamentary and presidential elections due to be held in Egypt in 2005, though he was detained in the past because of his monitoring of voting operations in earlier elections.

Ibrahim had spent 15 months in jail during a legal argument lasted for three years until he was retried in march 2003 and found not guilty from accusations covered distorting the image of Egypt and getting money illegally from abroad to monitor elections took place in 1995.

Ibrahim said "I will do that ( monitoring the presidential and parliamentary elections) and I am confident this will provoke the unrest of the authorities. But this is their problem."

Ibrahim who carries the Egyptian and American nationalities said "it will be very important to monitor the Presidential referendum. The President always gets more than 90% and therefore it is necessary to see the number of those who cast their votes." He added that "Ibn Khaldoun center" which was re-opened in June 2003 after it was closed by the authorities, will work in collaboration with other agencies to send volunteers to the voting centers to monitor the voting process.