An American student witnesses the internal democracy of Al-Ghad party.

Two days ago, internal elections on the 4 seats of deputies in the Alexandria chapter of al-Ghad liberal party were as competitive as you may imagine. Sallie, an American student working on her thesis in Egypt, was there during the vote counting and subsequent celebrated declaration of results. She wrote the following post on her blog. We publish it after her permission:

A Day with Ayman Nour and al-Ghad

Ayman Nour walking to the al-Ghad party headquarters in Alexandria

Yesterday I found myself smack in the middle of Egyptian politics.
After a last-minute invitation from a new friend, I hopped on a mini-bus at 9am for the three-hour trip from Cairo to Alexandria. Thankfully the trip was completely uneventful, and the bus was even air-conditioned. Around 1pm we found ourselves sitting at a beach-front cafe sipping fresh juices (strawberry for me, guava for her) and reveling in the clean air and smell of the sea. We took a long stroll down the corniche (the road which runs along the water) and found ourselves outside Ayman Nour’s apartment at quarter to three – 15 minutes early! (Apparently neither of us have gotten back on Egyptian time yet.)

(Quick background: Ayman Nour is a well-known figurehead of opposition politics in Egypt. Formerly a member of the Wafd party, Nour left to form al-Ghad (Tomorrow) party in 2004. Al-Ghad was officially licensed just in time for Nour to run for President in 2005, Egypt’s first multi-candidate presidential elections since Nasser’s revolution in 1952. Nour came in second to president Hosni Mubarak, who has been in power since 1981. Officially Nour received 8% of the vote, but there is speculation that the actual percentage was much higher. Following the election Nour was convicted on forgery charges largely recognized as politically motivated and spent nearly four years in prison. He was released in February of 2009.)

We relaxed in the living room for a while, and eventually the five of us – myself, my friend, Nour, his secretary in Alexandria, and another Ghad party member – left for lunch. Nour nodded out the window to a guard station as we piled into the car. The four men at the station were watching us, and while three of them didn’t seem particularly concerned the fourth was looking between us and his phone. He was letting his superior know we were leaving the house, Nour said.

Anyone who argues that Nour’s popularity has fallen since his release from prison last year (and multiple tabloid-esque stories in the media) has not seen him in public. From the moment we entered the mall, where we stopped for lunch with other al-Ghad members, the flow of people stopping to speak with Nour, shake his hand, or take a picture with him did not abate until we got back in the car to go home at the end of the night. Men and women young and old approached him, all with smiles and handshakes and waiting cameras.

Eventually we made our way to the al-Ghad party headquarters for the Alexandria chapter. It was election day at the party – there were two issues on the ballot, and a petition as well. The first issue on the ballot was the deputy election (4 available seats, 5 candidates). The other, a referendum to confirm the party’s nomination of Ayman Nour as presidential candidate. The office, the entranceway, and the street outside were full of people milling about, speaking animatedly, talking on their phones, and vying for a moment with Nour.

Eventually my friend and I made our way inside, where there was just as much commotion. People coming to vote, and to sign their names next to their thumb-print on the petition. The petition is for a constitutional amendment to change the current electoral law, an issue supported by figures from Nour to Mohamed el-Baradei, the Egyptian former head of the IAEA. The ruling NDP party, however, has stated that it does not intend to propose constitutional amendments before the upcoming parliamentary elections.

Signing the petition

Yet al-Ghad is determined to prove that change is possible. According to Mohamed el-Wasemy, the Vice-President of the Executive Office for al-Ghad in Alexandria, the party’s internal elections are a lesson for both the party and the Egyptian people at large. The ballot counting was something that probably none of us have ever seen before. The ballot boxes are made of glass, a visual reminder of al-Ghad’s commitment to transparency. The ballots were counted out loud in front of a crowd of more than 60 people, the tallies marked on a board at the front of the room. During Friday night’s tally, every time the marker made a mistake and marked a tally for the wrong candidate, a dozen voices instantly called out and the error was immediately corrected. Each party member seated or standing in the room was watching carefully.

El-Wasemy called the elections a message to Egyptians. “A free election is not impossible to achieve,” he said.

“Political activism is the best way to bring about change in Egypt,” said Mohamed, a member of al-Ghad’s youth chapter, echoing el-Wasemy’s sentiments in an interview earlier in the day. Mohamed is a fairly new member of al-Ghad and sees the party as the only challenge to the regime. Neither the Reform and Development party or the Karama party have received official licenses, and Mohamed said that much of the other supposed opposition in the country has been created by the regime to play the part of opposition without actually being such.

Whether al-Ghad offers real opposition to the ruling NDP or not, the Tomorrow party faces many obstacles in its battle for change. Mohamed pointed to the broken lock and handle on the door of the room we were in. “Obviously we have no funding,” he said. Yet, despite the challenges, many in the party were hopeful as they gathered in the street following the election results.

“Say to me, mabrouk!” called out one of the newly elected deputies. I laughed and said to him, “Mabrouk!” Another new deputy echoed, “And me, and me!” Mabrouk – congratulations.

As the evening drew to a close, the crowd gathered on the street and slowly dispersed. Someone brought cake, and as we stood around talking a young member who spoke a little English walked over. “We call Obama the American Tutankahman,” he said. “We like Obama.” Why? I asked. “Some people love Obama because his father was Muslim,” he said. “But for me, his vision and charisma.”

After talk of el-Baradei (the headquarters of his National Association for Change in Alexandria is located in al-Ghad’s offices), corporate scandal, and a shocked exclamation of, “What is this language?!” as someone tried to decipher my notes, it was time to head back to Cairo. This time, my friend and I caught a ride with a party member back to the city. It was 11:30pm, and past 2am by the time we arrived back in Cairo.

An eventful eighteen hours, to be sure. I wonder what is next?

Nour surrounded by party members

Sallie Pisch

Alexandria, March 13th, 2010

Nour plans to run for president

By Amr Emam
Saturday, January 30, 2010

Opposition activist Ayman Nour announced yesterday his desire to run for president in Egypt’s next presidential polls, downplaying the effect of what he called the “legal stumbling blocks” the Government allegedly puts on the opposition’s way to presidency.

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Nour said he felt obliged to run in the next elections, which are slated for 2011, so that Egypt could be “put” on track yet again.
“It’s necessary for everyone of us to act now to rescue the future of this country,” Nour said.

“Egypt’s future is in danger and a quick action is required if this country is to continue to hold,” he told The Gazette in an interview.

Nour, the founder of the opposition el-Ghad (Tomorrow) Party, called for the formation of a new constitution and a transitional cabinet to be headed by former International Atomic Energy Agency chief Mohamed el-Baradie to prepare Egypt for what he called “fair” elections.

Nour came a distant second to Egypt’s incumbent President Hosni Mubarak in the country’s first contested presidential elections in 2005.

Some people say, Nour, who was previously convicted and sent to five years in jail for fabricating party documents, has many legal hindrances ahead if he wants to run for president.

He, however, says he had loaded his guns with the necessary legal arguments and documents to sort this legal problem out.

“If my party chooses to field me as a candidate in the elections, I would seek ways to find a solution to this problem,” Nour said.

“My party would ratchet up the necessary internal and external pressure to make this possible,” he added, without elaboration.

Members from Nour’s party are due to meet on Friday to agree whether they will pick him as
the party‘s presidential candidate.

Despite this, he has already started his campaign by touring more than 20 Egyptian cities to meet ordinary citizens and talk to them about his programme.

Nour, in his mid forties and a lawyer by profession, says he had found support everywhere he went, making him encouraged even more to run for president.

Mubarak, who has been ni power swince 1981, has not said yet wheite he will run for a 6th six-year term in office.

But in a recent interview with the Police Magazine, the President said he would welcome candidates who would “serve” the people.

Heartened by this, Nour is optimistic about his prospects in the elections. “I found support everywhere and this gives me hope,” Nour said.

“People’s feelings to my campaign are more than encouraging,” he added.

Anti-establishment in Egypt: the return of Ayman Nour

The one-time presidential candidate is among dissidents who won't be silenced, despite the government's efforts prior to 2011 elections.

By Theodore May - GlobalPost

Published: October 11, 2009 08:34 ET

CAIRO, Egypt — We had just finished Round One of an intense interview with Ayman Nour. The 2005 runner-up for the Egyptian presidency, who subsequently spent three years in jail, slipped out for a cigarette on the rooftop of his opulent Cairo apartment before heading inside to resume his interview with GlobalPost.

Halfway to his seat, though, he stopped and beckoned me to come close.

“You asked me about torture,” he said, referencing a question I had asked him about his imprisonment. “I didn’t want to talk much about it, because I didn’t want to upset my son.”

But with his son out of the room, Nour rolled up the leg of his well-tailored suit. His ghostly white leg was pocked with deep black-and-blue marks that he said were left by the chains his guards used to bound him.

“And I’m not going to show you my back,” he said in a near-whisper.

In a second, the moment had passed, and Nour sunk back into his chair, ready for more questioning.

Such is life for this most high-profile of Egypt’s political dissidents.

The years 2004 and 2005 represented what the deputy Muslim Brotherhood leader Essam Al-Aryan calls the “spring of semi-democracy,” with Nour running a robust campaign for the presidency — he won 9 percent of the vote — and the Muslim Brotherhood picking up 20 percent of the seats in the lower house of parliament.

Now, though, with parliamentary elections looming next year and presidential elections slated for 2011, the government looks eager to shore up its primacy by clamping down aggressively on political opposition.

But the government is finding foes in every corner of the political spectrum. Islamists, liberal democrats, socialists and more have been fighting for a voice.

While the government has used the legal system to hamper the opposition’s efforts, harassment and detention seem to be the tools of choice.

If arrests are any indication, the Muslim Brotherhood is the government’s biggest worry. Just last week, security forces scooped up 12 members of the group. On Saturday, the government arrested 24 more members. More than 300 now languish in jail, according to Al-Aryan, most charged with belonging to a banned group.

“All Muslim Brotherhood now are waiting for arrest,” he said. “Tens of thousands of people are Muslim Brothers. They live under such tensions … And of course it is a message in preparation for the upcoming elections.”

“Now, for any Muslim Brother, prison is a second home,” quipped Al-Aryan, who says he has been arrested eight times over 30 years, including three times between 2005 and 2007. He claims to have been tortured twice.

The government denies that the arrests are political. And it leans on the judiciary to back up its claim.

"The defendant can say whatever he wants to say to defend himself. That's his constitutional right," said Mohamed Quita, a member of parliament from the ruling party. In reference to Nour, he added: "But the fair judicial system has had its word. And they were convicted of their crimes, which shows it was not political, and these allegations have no basis in truth."

The government also denies the torture charges. According to Quita, his party has visited prisons investigated the charges but "didn't find any trail of torture."

While the Muslim Brotherhood has been around since before the founding of the Republic of Egypt, the government has had to start dealing with a new threat: bloggers.

The blogosphere in Egypt first became politicized on a massive scale in the wake of political unrest in 2005. Since then, their numbers have grown by the tens of thousands.

Unlike in some countries, the security forces, led by the Interior Ministry’s cyber crime division, don’t shut down websites critical of the government. They go after the writers.

“I would say this is the pattern,” said Hossam el-Hamalawy, one of Egypt’s most prominent bloggers. “It’s either phone up, threaten them, [or] stop them at the airport when they come. But we didn’t reach the level of, say, Tunisia,” where the government cracks down aggressively, banning people from the web or hacking their websites.

Many of these bloggers, though, are also street activists, protesting various government practices. It is in this context that many of them are arrested. El-Hamalawy is a socialist whose blog takes aim at the government’s labor practices. He says he was arrested and tortured in 2000 (before he started his blog) for tearing down the American flag that flew over the American University in Cairo. He has been arrested twice subsequently.

Part of the threat that bloggers pose to the government, he believes, is that they break stories of political or military abuse that conventional newspapers won’t.

He added that local print reporters have been known to feed controversial stories to bloggers so that they can report on the blog coverage instead of on the story itself.

Despite the crackdown, it’s remarkable that many of these political dissidents, who hail from all ends of the political spectrum, continue to lead life in the public eye.

El-Hamalawy serves as an editor at one of the country’s pre-eminent newspapers.

Al-Aryan works out of his office at the doctor’s syndicate in downtown.

Nour, who was unexpectedly released from jail early this year, has launched a grassroots political campaign called “Knocking on Doors.” As leader of the Ghad party, he goes door to door across the country, extolling the virtues of liberal democracy.

If his group tries to set up formal events, he says, security forces shut them down ahead of time. But they still let him go door to door and spread his message quietly.

“We can’t hold conferences,” he said. “We can’t own any newspapers or visual media. We are prevented from using any means of communications. The only right that they can’t prevent us from doing is our right to walk on our feet in the streets.”

Egypt's Ayman Nour claims attack, suffers facial burns

Egypt opposition leader Ayman Nour firebombed

Ayman Nour was attacked Friday evening on his way to a Ghad party meeting

CAIRO (Marwa Awad)

Egypt’s leading opposition figure Ayman Nour survived a bomb attack late Friday in front of his home a day after he vowed to run for elections in 2011.

Nour, one of Egypt’s best known political dissidents, was admitted to a Cairo hospital late Friday for first degree facial burns after a motorcyclist firebombed his car.

The attack took place 300 meters (984 feet) outside of Nour's home in the upper-class neighborhood of Zamalek. A youth in his late teens rode up to Nour, who had his car window rolled down, and sprayed flammable liquid in his face and lit a fire simultaneously.

“I had my window rolled down and he came up to me within a distance of one meter. He sprayed a liquid that ignited into a ball of fire that covered my face and head and I was immediately rushed to the hospital,” Nour told Al Arabiya in his first comments since the accident and declined to disclose the name of hospital he where he is being treated.

His driver was unhurt and immediately took Nour to the hospital. Nour said he suffered first degree burns on half his face and 20 percent of his hair. Doctors told him they expect to release him within two weeks with the possibility of minor plastic surgery. “We are in the process of filing a statement of criminal assault to the Abdel Maguid Mahmud the Attorney General to initiate an investigation into this crime,” Ehaab al-Khoury, head of the Ghad Party, told Al Arabiya. “We will also issue an official statement condemning such an act and demanding justice.” Osama Abdel Menem, attorney with al-Ghad party told Al Arabiya he will file the criminal assault report Sunday. Nour did not know who his attackers were, but said he believed the attack was in response to a speech he gave Thursday in Port Said announcing his resolve to run for the presidency for a second time in 2011. However managers at Alfa market and Hardee's in Zamalek, two businesses located near the alleged attack, were unaware of any incidents around that time. Zamalek police said no report of criminal assault was filed by Nour or the Ghad party on Friday.

" I had my window rolled down and he came up to me within a distance of one meter. He sprayed a liquid that ignited into a ball of fire that covered my face and " Ayman Nur, Ghad Party founder Nour, a 44-year-old diabetic, formed a political party and mounted an unprecedented challenge against veteran President Hosni Mubarak during the 2005 presidential election, coming a distant second. He was then imprisoned on charges of forging signature to found his party, which his supporters believe were trumped up, and sentenced to five years in prison. He was released in February. “There are many who could have done this criminal act, especially after my visit to the city of Port Said and the speech I gave there,” Nour said, adding that he remains resolved to carry on with his political activities and “will not succumb to any obstacles.” Nour called the attack “unfair play outside of all norms of decency and legitimacy,” maintaining that ever since his release in February of this year, he has been periodically assailed in ways that sought to damage his political and social standing and hinder any progress on his political reform efforts. “A series of distractions and obstacles were set in my path since my release. Attempts on my life of this illegitimate sort outside of the political arena try to disable the party’s development and progress,” Nour explained.

"Ayman Nour's release is fantastic", says LI President

"Ayman Nour's release is fantastic", says LI President

Liberal International (LI) President John Lord Alderdice warmly welcomed the release of Ayman Nour of the Egyptian liberal party El Ghad after more than three years of imprisonment, and announced that the next LI Congress will take place in Cairo, Egypt.

Speaking from Kampala, Uganda, where he is currently representing the Liberal International at a meeting of ALDEPAC, the group of liberal and democratic parliamentarians from the European Union, the Pacific, Africa and the Caribbean, Lord Alderdice commented: 'The release of Ayman Nour is fantastic news. First and foremost for his own freedom and well-being, but also as an inspiration for liberal and democratic forces in Egypt. Mr. Nour's courage and determination in speaking out for the freedom of speech, democracy and political freedoms in Egypt, even at the sacrifice of his own personal freedom, have been an inspiration to many. His intended return in politics is a particularly encouraging sign for liberals in the Middle East, who have so successfully established the Network of Arab Liberals (NAL) over the last few years in which Mr. Nour's party is an active member. As members of the Liberal International across the world, we will continue to actively support Mr. Nour and other liberals in the region. It therefore gives me much pleasure to publicly announce that the 56th Liberal International Congress will take place in Cairo, Egypt, from the 29th of October until the 1st of November 2009. “

The Egyptian liberal party the Democratic Front Party (DFP) has been a member party of LI since the 2007 Belfast Congress, while Mr. Nour's El Ghad party is LI's partner that has initiated the process of formal affiliation with Liberal International.

Except Ayman Nour

Cairo, April 26, 2008

The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information stated today that all prisoners of opinion are detained in Burg Al Arab prison except Dr. Ayman Nour who is detained in Mazra'at Tura prison. Three of the opinion prisoners out of five are arrested according to the emergency law. The three are Ali Abdul Fattah, director of the Egyptian media center, Mos'ad Abu Fagr, a novelist and a blogger and an activist in "wedna na'ish" (we wanna live) movement and Karim Al Behairy, a labor historian and blogger who was recently detained due to the strike called for by internet activists and democratic movements. The three prisoners are detained in Burg Al Arab detention camp located in Alexandria desert.

The remaining two prisoners are the secular blogger Karim Amir, sentenced to four years in prison, and detained in Burg Al Arab, and Dr. Ayman Nour, sentenced to five years in prison, and detained in Mazra'at Tura prison south Cairo.

Is it a coincidence that all opinion prisoners are detained in Burg Al Arab prison? This prison is in a remote area, Alexandria desert, while the detainees are from different places according to their accommodations. This makes us say that detaining opinion prisoners in such a remote prison away from the detainees' accommodation areas is a sign that the interior ministry is cracking down against opinion prisoners in Egypt.

Next May will witness three important events; the world day for press freedom on May 3, a strike called for by internet activists and democratic movements on May 4 the president birthday date, and the termination of emergency law activation period on May 27.

Mr. Gamal Eid, the executive director of the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information said, "We hope that the Egyptian government will not extend the emergency law activation period next May". "To terminate the emergency law activation period means that the opinion prisoners will be released, and also means that the president will issue a decree to release both Ayman Nour and Karim Amir. After 27 years, Egypt is to be without emergency law and without opinion prisoners", added Gamal Eid.

EGYPT/BONINO: NO OPENINGS. DISSIDENTS STILL IN PRISON

"In Egypt a relevant economic liberalisation is not accompanied by an opening from a political point of view".

Minister Emma Bonino, who has lived in Cairo for a long time, said this to Radio Radicale the night before Romano Prodi's visit to Egypt. "I haven't spoken with Prodi about Egypt in particular" Bonino said "in that country there is a economic liberalisation in progress with a relevant growth while there are no openings from a political point of view.

I have no information about openings that are relevant or consistent. Ayman Nour (dissident Egyptian intellectual, ed.) is still in prison".

FREEING A PARLAMENTARIAN

Steven Stalinsky *
The New York Sun

A former Egyptian parliamentarian and leader of Al-Ghad Party (the Party of Tomorrow), Dr. Ayman Nour, became an international cause celebre following his arrest last year by the Egyptian government for forging signatures on the petition to secure the formation of his new party - an allegation he has denied vehemently. He has been locked in a prison cell for the last 142 days or 3,408 hours.

According to freeaymannour.org, Al-Ghad stands for liberal and democratic values, with a focus on human rights. Other pillars of the party are encouraging constitutional reform, limiting presidential powers, and creating open, multi-candidate presidential elections in Egypt.

Freeaymannour.org offers up-to-date articles from the international press regarding Dr. Nour's case, as well as information from Western legislators who have spoken out on his behalf. For example, the site highlights U.S. House of Representatives Resolution 82, from March 3, 2005, which "express[ed] the grave concern of Congress" regarding Dr. Nour's arrest. A December 24 statement from the White House, which called Dr. Nour's five year prison sentence "deeply troubling," is also posted at freeaymannour.org.

The following are some examples of the dozens of personal letters and emails in support of Dr. Nour, from influential Europeans who also have been outraged by his imprisonment and are active in working to secure his release:

A text adopted by the European Parliament, "Urges the Egyptian authorities not to undermine the prospects recently opened ... to multi-candidate presidential elections, and to press ahead with democratic reforms; expresses its deep concern ... about the conviction of Ayman Nour ... regards this as a seriously retrograde step and calls on the Egyptian authorities to make every effort to ensure that this case is correctly dealt with." From a letter sent to freeaymannour.org by Czech politician Jana Hybaskova, member of the European Parliament, on March 8.

"[We the European Parliament] welcome and support the worldwide calls to release Ayman Nour and strongly urge the Egyptian authorities to ensure that Ayman Nour is well treated and not sub ject to torture or other ill treatment and to further ensure that he is given prompt, regular and unrestricted access to his lawyers, doctors (as he's diabetic) and family." A January 18 e-mail from an Italian politician and member of the European Parliament, Emma Bonino.

Most importantly, freeaymannour.org provides visitors an opportunity to sign a petition addressed to President Mubarak of Egypt urging Dr. Nour's release. It calls the prison sentence "an attack on the nascent initiative to a free political life in Egypt to move towards democracy and pluralism."

The petition asks the international community to support Dr. Nour and the struggle for a free and democratic Egypt. It states that all individuals and associations who care for the future of Egypt and of the Arab and Muslim world as a whole to add their signature.

To date there have been more than 600 signers including Dr. Nour's wife Gameela Ismail; Arab reformers, such as Saad Eddin Ibrahim; 27 members of the European Parliament from Finland, Britain, Italy, Sweden, the Czech Republic, Poland, France, and Germany; members of academia; journalists; activists; researchers; students; housewives; lawyers, and concerned citizens of the world.

The signers are from countries such as Egypt, Morocco, Iraq, Jordan, Tunisia, the Palestinian Territories, Algeria, Syria, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, U.A.E., Libya, Spain, Switzerland, Thailand, America, Canada, Brazil, the Netherlands, Austria, Norway, and the Ivory Coast.

The Web site also requests visitors to "officially" ask Egyptian authorities to visit Dr. Nour in prison to help ensure his safety and to direct such requests to: 1. Habib el Adly, Egyptian minister of Interior, Lazoghly, Cairo, Egypt, Fax no. 202-795-7286. 2. General Mahmoud Wagdy, Head of the Egyptian prisons, Kolaly, Cairo, Egypt.

A risk worth taking : an interview with Ayman Nour

A RISK WORTH TAKING

Al-Ahram Weekly

Ayman Nour tells Mona El-Nahhas that running for president and working to restore party unity top his post-release agenda


For nearly a month the name of Ayman Nour, MP and chairman of the liberal opposition Al- Ghad Party, has made headlines. Arrested in January on charges of forging thousands of party membership applications, Nour was detained at Tora prison for almost 40 days pending investigations.

On Saturday Prosecutor-General Maher Abdel-Wahed ordered Nour's release on LE10,000 bail. It remains unclear whether the case will be closed or Nour will still have to stand trial. Whatever happens, few members of the public accept the official line that the case is criminal and not politically motivated.

Following his release, Nour was soon back in the headlines, having announced his intention to run for president in the coming elections.

A few days before your release you said you intended to run in the coming presidential elections. What will be the consequences of that decision for your party and for your political future?

I am sure this step will have serious repercussions. I am ready for the risk, though, because I believe it will help outline the future of our society. My participation will help people choose among candidates who are qualified and capable of competing to provide an effective alternative to the ruling party.

With such a target in mind, my freedom or even my life would be small price to pay.

What preparations have you made for the coming elections?

The battle will be fierce. Yet we are ready for it. It is not only our party's battle, but the battle of a whole generation.

We intend to run against the ruling NDP's nominee, whether that is President Hosni Mubarak, his son or somebody else. We will present our platform against theirs, and will ask for an international committee to monitor the elections in order to guarantee transparency.

We are determined not to allow the party to be excluded from participating, particularly after we heard that they intend to tailor the legal conditions with the aim of banning party nominees from running. Doing that will only add another failure to their record.

How do you see your chances of success?

I would bet on the Egyptian people's eagerness for change. We believe they are fed up with seeing the same faces, same party and the same style of administration for 25 years.

You said earlier that your call for amending the Constitution was the reason behind your arrest. Now that President Mubarak has himself asked for a constitutional amendment do you still believe this is the case?

What I said was that my call for amending the Constitution was one of the reasons behind the case. It is not the only one.

I think the main reason was my intention to run in the presidential elections, and although I had not announced that at the time of my arrest it seems they learned of it.

If your calls for amending the Constitution and running for the office of president were behind your arrest, why were other political activists advocating the same cause not arrested as well?

Believe me I have no idea. Ask those who sent me to jail.

You said that destroying your party was the main objective behind the "state- fabricated" case against you. Why then did the government allow the party to be formed in the first place?

It was not their permission that allowed our existence. It was, after all, simply a matter of time before the courts would have ordered the granting of permission for the party to be formed once we filed a law suit against the government.

As I have repeatedly said, the government had no choice but to license the party after they were certain the court would rule in our favour.

At the time it was said the party obtained a licence after cutting a deal with the state. And some people accused the party of maintaining close ties with the government. I believe that time has proved such allegations wrong.

During your absence the party suffered several internal splits. What are your plans to restore unity?

The party suffered no splits but differences in opinion as to how the party should have been run in such a crisis. Some members thought it would be safer to avoid direct confrontation with the state, believing this would help me. Others preferred to put as much pressure on the government as possible.

Some leading party members made statements with which I was unhappy and which were not in line with the party's overall agenda. But we will deal with these issues and re- organise the party in a democratic manner.

Do you think there is sufficient time left before parliamentary and presidential elections to restore the party's strength?

I believe that working under such a strict timetable gives an incentive to the members to get their act together, overcome the ordeal and become much stronger.

Behind bars you said repeatedly that controversial journalist Ibrahim Eissa, appointed by the party's first general congress as editor-in-chief of Al-Ghad's mouthpiece, enjoyed your full support. Yet Eissa was replaced by a journalist from the weekly independent paper Sawt Al-Umma, which has attacked both you and the party. Why?

As far as I am concerned I have no authority to violate decisions made during the party's first general congress. For me Eissa remains the editor of the newspaper.

The decision to replace Eissa was not mine. I was not there when some of the party officials assigned certain journalists, whom I hardly knew, posts on the newspaper's editorial board. In jail I had to accept the will of the party officials to protect Al-Ghad from internal splits.

I'll meet very soon with the newspaper's new editorial board and evaluate the whole matter from a professional perspective. Everything I have heard until now suggests that security pressure was exerted on party officials and that was the reason behind choosing those journalists.

Does this mean the party has been infiltrated by state security?

Frankly speaking, yes. You'll not find a political party in Egypt which is not infiltrated by state security. Yet in our party such infiltration remains limited.

This, I believe, is due to the crisis we are going through and the party's youthfulness. After all, we've only been in the field for five months.

US pressure for your release led some to hint that the party has direct connections with Washington while others accused the party of receiving financial aid from the US.

The Al-Ghad Party is above suspicion. We have never received a penny, from the Egyptian government or from any foreign government. Let them ask US secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, if they do not believe us.

Our finance comes mainly from the party's members, who paid all the expenses of the first general congress. Whoever repeats such nonsense is simply mudslinging.

Then how do you explain US support? And do you think such support was the reason behind your release?

I did not ask for this support and cannot be held responsible for it. Yet I cannot blame anyone for supporting me. I am not against foreign support, but against foreign intervention. That we will never allow when our party comes to power.

My release was natural, given that I was the wronged party. The US had nothing to do with my release. If anything, it came as a result of strong popular support.

Some believe that US support may negatively affect Al-Ghad's popularity.

I don't think so. People are smart enough to know who has connections with the US, who makes pilgrimages to the US and who receives financial aid from them.

What is your response to the attitude of the People's Assembly and its Human Rights Committee regarding your case?

Compared with the support I received from the European parliament the People's Assembly was shameful. As for its Human Rights Committee, I think it would be better if they dissolved it. We do not need a committee the only role of which is to mask the ugly image of the state.

I sent a letter to the People's Assembly speaker telling him that my life was in danger. The committee members only started to do something after 10 days and even then faked a report about my health, denying that I had been tortured or had any health problems, while in fact I am diabetic and have a heart condition.

And what about the attitude of the opposition parties?

Some of the opposition parties, the Nasserist Party and Al-Geel Al-Dimoqrati (democratic generation) Party adopted honourable stances for which I thank them. Others preferred not to declare their support for me.

As for the rest, those who took the opportunity to settle old accounts and stab me in the back, I hope they are ashamed of themselves. Their position backfired and instead of harming me they were themselves belittled in the eyes of the public.

Watson calls on Egypt to release Ayman Nour

11.21.14am GMT Tue 1st Feb 2005

On hearing of the arrest yesterday of Ayman Nour, member of the Egyptian parliament and leader of the liberal opposition party al-Ghad ("Tomorrow"), Graham Watson, leader of the European Liberal Democrat Group in the European Parliament called upon President Mubarak and the Egyptian authorities to respect both the letter and the spirit of the EU-Mediterranean Agreement.

"2005 marks the 10th anniversary of the Barcelona process and represents an opportunity for a new stimulus to EU-Mediterranean relations. This kind of politically-motivated arrest of the leader of the only real opposition movement in a country dominated by a single ruling party sends all the wrong signals - that Egypt still has far to go on the road to democracy," he said.

"Political legitimacy derives precisely from a free choice of the electorate from a range of political viewpoints and not from imposing one view on everyone. Approaching the end of his fourth term of office, Mubarak should seize the opportunity of going down in history for supporting constitutional reform and a multi-party democracy. The EU should not stand idly by in the face of blatant disregard for the rule of law in its relations with privileged partner states. If Ayman Nour is not released promptly, collective EU action should be considered. Parliament should address this matter in its next 'urgency debate' on Human Rights on the 24th February if the matter has not been resolved, " Mr. Watson added.