Cairo - Egyptian political activist Ayman Nur, imprisoned
for fraud, lashed out at Egyptian President Hosny Mubarak Wednesday
after he was not pardoned as were many other prisoners.
Nur, founder of al-Ghad Party and former presidential candidate,
said his not being pardoned despite his poor health 'rules out any
doubts about the president's interference in judiciary decisions'.
In a statement released by his wife, he said he was jailed because
of a presidential decree. Nur also said that he will start a food
strike against the 'attacks' by security forces on his supporters.
Nur's wife, Gamila Ismail, said she went to visit Nur Tuesday with
11 of his supporters, but they were denied access. Ismail said her
companions were detained inside a police car and left in the summer
heat all day.
'Although the law allows up to four visitors each time, the prison
administration only allowed me to visit him,' said Ismail in the
statement.
Ismail had been hoping her husband, a diabetic, would be among
more than 1,500 other prisoners who were pardoned by Mubarak on
Tuesday.
Nur, who led his al-Ghad party during Egypt's first ever
presidential elections in September 2005, was found guilty a few
months later of forging papers required for establishing his
political party.
The 44-year-old lawyer has completed half of his five-year
sentence. On national holidays, it is customary for the president to
grant pardons for prisoners who have completed half their sentence.
Wednesday marked the anniversary of the 1952 revolution.
'Who should be pardoned? Ayman Nur or murderers, spies and
deserters?' read a sign Ismail held outside Cairo's Torah prison
Tuesday, where Nur is detained.
Last May, Nur was forbidden from publishing newspaper articles
from his jail cell.
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