Cairo - Egyptian opposition leader Ayman Nour has said he
will challenge President Hosny Mubarak in future presidential
elections despite a jail term that has weakened his health and a ban
on his participation in politics.
Nour was sent to prison in 2005 on forgery charges after winning
13 percent of the vote (although the government said 7 per cent) in a
presidential election, second to Mubarak, who has ruled Egypt since
1981.
'I say with great clarity, candor, and courage I will not leave
the political scene as long as I'm alive, the ruling system may have
won this round, but it will not win the battle that I won't escape
from,' Nour told the Deutsche Presse-Agentur, dpa in an interview
from prison.
'I strongly believe in justice and legitimacy. The last
presidential elections were not the final round. There are more
rounds to come that I think (will be) more decisive,' he added.
Nour, a former lawyer, member of the Egyptian parliament and
leader of the Ghad (Tomorrow) party, is now banned from political
action and from running for elections for six years from the date of
his release.
'The real objective of my imprisonment is to stop me from
leading a political life, therefore the president and those around
him insist on not granting me an amnesty since this will drop
charges that prevent me from practicing my political life,' said
Nour.
Nour is expected to be released in July 2009. Egypt's next
presidential election is scheduled for 2011. Many believe that
Mubarak is grooming his son Gamal for the job.
Opposition groups accuse Egypt's ruling National Democratic Party
(NDP) of rigging the presidential elections. Mubarak has sought to
eliminate challenges to his rule and may have viewed Nour, a liberal
widely supported in the west, as a potential threat.
Last February, the State Council Administrative Court denied Nour
the release from prison that he had sought on health grounds.
According to Gamila Ismail, Nour's wife, his deteriorating health
conditions require extra care that cannot be provided behind the bars
of prison. Gamila claims that her husband's diabetes was
affecting his eyes, joints, and backbone and that he had arterial
diseases.
The Ghad party has weakened significantly, since the incarceration
of its charismatic leader.
Nour is also pressing the International Criminal Court to take
action against Egypt's political leaders, who, he says, fabricated
charges against him to eliminate any political challenge.
The fact that Egypt has not ratified the Convention on the
International Criminal Court does not prevent the Court from charge
Egyptian officials in a similar way it charged Sudanese President
Omar al-Bashir, said Nour.
On August 15, Nour wrote to the Chief Prosecutor for the
International Criminal Court Louis Moreno-Ocampo complaining against
Egyptian officials, including Egyptian President Mubarak, Minister of
Interior Habib el-Adli and the Public Prosecutor Abdel Megid Mahmoud.
The opposition leader has been backed by foreign support. In 2005
Condoleezza Rice postponed a visit to Egypt in protest of Nour's
imprisonment. Nour was briefly released, and a month later the
Egyptian government announced that it would run a multi-candidate
presidential election, the country's first.
However, following the poll, in December 2005 Nour was sentenced
and sent back to jail.
'The United States is deeply troubled by the conviction today of
Egyptian politician Ayman Nour by an Egyptian court. The conviction
of Nour, the runner-up in Egypt's 2005 presidential elections,
calls into question Egypt's commitment to democracy, freedom, and the
rule of law,' said press statement by the White House on the day of
Nour's sentencing.
US pressure on Egypt to release Nour has waned as George Bush's
democracy promotion efforts have lost steam.
Nour has also sent a letter to the US democratic candidate Barack
Obama calling for his intervention.
'These lines are sent by a man, about your age, who was-and still
is-dreaming like you of change and reform in his country, this
legitimate dream. However, in our countries legitimate dreams turn
into horrifying nightmares,' said the letter, sent last August.
USA
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