El Ghad Denounces Violence against Christians in Nagaa Hammady

El Ghad Denounces Violence against Christians in Nagaa Hammady

El Ghad Party denounces the terrorist attack against a number of Egyptian citizens which took place as they were leaving Nagaa Hamady’s Church in Quena after Christmas Mass. We see this incident which left seven dead, including the policeman in charge of securing the Church, and many injured, in the context of an accumulation of many previous incidents, which went unresolved as the perpetrators were rarely punished and the law thrown aside. This has culminated an atmosphere of lawlessness as the State failed to protect its citizens and enforce the law, instead resorting to failed political tactics.

This last tragic incident is yet another sign on the failure of a tyrannical regime and the political, social and economic consequences of corruption, oppression, incompetence and misgovernment. This should not, however, blind us from seeing a number of other alarming issues;

• The gross negligence on the part of the security authorities which failed in securing this important church on Christmas day.
• A rise in the culture of violence and conflict in place of tolerance, co-existence, equality and citizenship.
• Abuse of religious sentiments to promote hatred instead of love, compassion and tolerance.
• Failure of Egyptian Media and Educational Institutions in spreading values of tolerance and citizenship as many channels and outlets have been hijacked by extremists and fanatics.

El Ghad Party renews its constant demands to resolve these issues and address the grievances of Christian citizens and all Egyptians. El Ghad presents its liberal reform agenda as basis for coexistence, tolerance, liberty and progress.

El Ghad Party conveys its deepest sympathies and condolences to families of the victims and presents the following demands:

• Swift pursuit and trial of the perpetrators.
• Accountability for negligence and failure to properly secure the church.
• Dismissal of the Minister of Interiors and other officials found responsible for gross negligence.
• Allowing peaceful demonstrators to express their grievances in accordance with the law and the constitution.
• Putting an end to failed policies of denial, cover-up and compromise which has rendered the law ineffective.

To all Egyptian citizens, El Ghad calls for resorting to reason, self-restraint, dialogue and transparency in order to resolve chronic problems of sectarian nature before it is too late

From Ayman Nour, a Question for Obama

By Michael Gerson

Wednesday, June 3, 2009

I last saw Ayman Nour in a dingy Cairo conference room in 2005 while he was running for president against Hosni Mubarak, Egypt's military ruler. During a Middle Eastern trip, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice had convened a small group of Egyptian dissidents and civil society leaders to discuss democracy and human rights. Many in the room were encouraged by the greater free expression Mubarak was permitting in Egypt under American pressure. A door, they thought, was opening.

Nour, looking exhausted, spoke last: "This is not an open door, it is a revolving door. It will end up with one conclusion -- a monologue, not a dialogue." Egypt's election laws, he complained, were unclear and unfair. The government was pursuing trumped-up legal charges against him. State security agents followed him everywhere.

Nour's pessimism was prophetic. After the election, he was imprisoned for three years. Now he is banned from practicing law, running for office or appearing on national television. Last week, two unknown assailants using a homemade flamethrower burned Nour's hair and face.

President Obama is entering a nation and a region where such treatment is the normal price of political courage. His Cairo University speech will send a large diplomatic signal: Does Obama honor and support such courage, or de-emphasize and dismiss it in the "realist" pursuit of other ends?

One hopes that Obama and his speechwriters have consulted "The Next Founders: Voices of Democracy in the Middle East," an important new book by Joshua Muravchik. The book profiles seven men and women -- six Arab, one Iranian -- taking impossible risks in the cause of human rights and self-government. They include a Saudi woman protesting the treatment of women as chattel and an Egyptian publisher trying to bring a free, responsible press to an authoritarian society. Most of these reformers have suffered imprisonment or faced threats to their lives and families.

Many of these dissidents, Muravchik told me in an interview, felt "betrayed" during the last few years of the Bush administration, when the containment of Iran and the Israeli-Palestinian peace process seemed to take precedence over democracy promotion (except in Iraq). Reformers in the region generally greeted Obama's election with enthusiasm. But Muravchik says dissidents are becoming "disquieted about the administration's apparent indifference to democracy and human rights abuses."

They should be, in the Middle East and elsewhere. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has bluntly admitted that concern about Chinese human rights abuses "can't interfere with the global economic crisis" -- meaning we can't afford to offend dictators who buy our bonds. The administration talks of reviewing sanctions on Burma's junta. And Egypt's ambassador to the United States enthuses that America has stopped making "human rights, democracy and religious and general freedoms" conditions for better relations.

In this environment, the message of Obama's Cairo speech will be amplified. His Middle East advisers have probably urged him to focus (as they always do) on Israeli-Palestinian peace -- the "real" concern of the region -- instead of discredited democratic idealism. In fact, this sort of realism both reflects and strengthens the strategy that Middle Eastern dictators have pursued for decades -- the strategy of heaping attention on Israel and the Palestinians to draw attention away from their own oppression and economic failure. There is no reason Obama cannot emphasize both a two-state solution and the need for responsible and representative states across the Middle East.

It is also likely that Obama has been counseled to avoid the "d" word -- "democracy" -- in his Cairo remarks. Middle East experts sometimes contend that promoting "justice" and "good governance" is more culturally sensitive than employing such Westernized concepts as "democracy" and "freedom." The argument is common -- and uninformed. "Justice," in this context, implies human rights as the gift of a wise emir or enlightened dictator. But, as Nour and others have discovered, such gifts can be withdrawn on a whim. The next founders in the Middle East are not merely begging for more rights from autocrats; they are seeking freedom from autocracy. They want more than for tyrants to open the door of reform a crack; they want to open the door themselves.

Any presidential speech abroad has multiple audiences. One of them, in this case, is the Egyptian government, whose cooperation is needed on issues that range from proliferation to peace. But another audience will be dissidents and reformers in Egypt and beyond. And a president who does not speak boldly for their political rights -- their democratic rights -- has little useful to say to them.

michaelgerson@cfr.org

"I Won't Wait for the Regime to Give Me Its Blessings!"

Interview with Ayman Nour : "I Won't Wait for the Regime to Give Me Its Blessings!"


Ayman Nour, the chairman of Egypt's liberal El-Ghad party, talked to Arian Fariborz and Mahmoud Tawfik about his party's perspectives for the future and his plan to run for office again in the next presidential elections

Ayman Nour was released from prison in February 2009 after three years – for health reasons, was the official explanation on the part of the judiciary

Ayman Nour is one of the most prominent politicians in Egypt's liberal opposition. Many in the Arab world and the West see Nour, 44, as a liberal standard-bearer and a democratic alternative to Mubarak's authoritarian National Democratic Party and the Islamist opposition in the form of the Muslim Brotherhood.

2005 saw his arrest in the wake of the presidential election, on the pretext of electoral manipulation after his liberal El-Ghad party had gained 13 percent of votes.

According to political observers, Nour's sudden release last February was largely down to pressure from the Obama administration. Washington had categorised his arrest as an abuse of justice.

Although the state excluded Ayman Nour from political activities for five years after his release, he had announced he would be standing again in the next presidential elections in 2011.

* * *

According to many journalists and political observers, your release was a consequence of US pressure on the Egyptian government. Do you share this view?

Ayman Nour: The American pressure was certainly a factor, but I simply don't know enough details to either confirm or reject that interpretation. But I'm sure, of course, that many countries appealed on my behalf.

I'm particularly pleased on this point that the German parliament was one of the first to intercede on my behalf, by protesting against my arrest with a declaration to the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU).

So how do you explain your release at this particular time?

Nour: That's just what I'm wondering! To be quite honest I don't even know myself why I was released from prison now of all times. I can only assume that the regime may have been trying to polish up its image – albeit rather late, as I only had four months left to serve of my regular prison sentence...

A phoenix rising from the ashes? Ayman Nour viewing the burnt-out El-Ghad party headquarters in Cairo after his release

What is the situation for Egypt's liberal opposition at the moment? Particularly after its defeat in the presidential and parliamentary elections in 2005 and the decline of the extra-parliamentary opposition?

Nour: The first thing you have to realise is that the liberal opposition wasn't suppressed simply because it was liberal, but to prevent it from offering a "third way" in Egypt – as an alternative to the choice between the authoritarian regime and the Muslim Brotherhood.

I believe we can pick up this idea again now that I've been released. But to do so, we have to be prepared to enter into a hard and long battle.

What alternatives do you want to offer the Egyptians as a "third way"?

Nour: Our main goal is a constitutional state. We want to offer simple, clear and pragmatic solutions and we are prepared to put these into practice immediately – if we get the chance. If the current regime were ready to give up its power at eight o'clock tomorrow morning, we'd be capable of filling the vacuum by five past eight at the latest, and taking over the business of the state in an orderly way.

We have a very clear, detailed political agenda – the longest manifesto an Egyptian party has ever had at over 1200 pages, with solutions suitable for everyday practice that don't scare people off. One thing you have to know is that the Egyptians tend to be rather suspicious of change.

Nour had announced from his prison cell that he would run for office in the next presidential election. His wife and fellow political activist Gamila Ismail passed on his statements beyond the prison walls

Apart from that, we have a public profile as a "young people's party" for 20 to 30-year-olds. I myself may be 44, much older than that, but that still makes me only half the age of the old guard of over-80-year-olds.

Egyptian opposition parties – and the Muslim Brotherhood is no exception here – are often accused of restricting their demands to political reforms, whereas they have no clear ideas on the economy. Does the same apply to the El-Ghad party?

Nour: We have our very own ideas of a "third way" as Gerhard Schröder, Tony Blair and many others took with their social liberal reform agenda. But that mustn't keep us from our most important objective. Above all we want to fight corruption – and that can't be done via economic approaches, but only by means of political reforms, through checks and balances and by strengthening the judiciary.

What political role can you take on at all for your party in the coming years? After all, you are subject to certain state conditions that make it impossible to exercise political office freely, particularly forbidding you from running for the coming presidential elections.

Nour: Never mind the conditions – we have means of getting around them. And I'd like to say very clearly to all those who interceded for my release: what you should do now is intercede to defend my rights! My arrest was not about me personally, after all, but about curtailing my rights.

Solidarity with Ayman Nour: hundreds of supporters demonstrated for the 44-year-old politician's release at the start of the court case against him

I am free again now as an individual but at the same time I can't exercise my rights freely, and the impression is that the state is still following a repressive logic by politically immobilising certain individuals – a negative picture that does huge damage to Egypt's image. I for one do not allow myself to be swayed by the feeling that I'm banned from doing anything, and I will run for office in the coming presidential election. I will simply ignore this type of conditions, as I don't source my legitimacy from the state anyway. I won't wait for the regime to give me its blessings!

How does the future look for your party? There was allegedly a split after your arrest, meaning El-Ghad almost disappeared into obscurity after having been one of the most important parties of the new opposition.

Nour: The party did not split in the actual sense. What happened was that a number of members were expelled for giving in to pressure to support Mubarak in the presidential elections.

The state had tried to use them as a Trojan horse to undermine El-Ghad from within. Two weeks before my release, a judgement was passed in our favour, ruling that the party is allowed to reconstitute itself. It's true that the party almost collapsed during my time in prison, but the reason wasn't a genuine division but this state intervention.

There are some critics, however, who say the El-Ghad party revolves solely around yourself…

Nour: That's not the case at all. I am an important part of the party, that's true, as parties in Egypt are essentially not strong as quasi "impersonal organisations". One of the great faults in Egypt's party politics is just that, that the focus on certain individuals plays such an important role here.

But perhaps that's neither unusual nor a bad thing – there's plenty of evidence that that's the case in many countries all around the globe. The best counter-evidence in any case is the fact that I was in prison for four years but the party still exists and has even renewed itself. There are many new young people in the party leadership now.

But as the party's founder I naturally play a role, as it was me who put the manifesto together, provided ideas and gave them a political form. But that's the way it is in Egypt – people can identify more with individuals than with posters and pamphlets.

Interview: Arian Fariborz and Mahmoud Tawfik

© Qantara.de 2009

Al Ahram weekly : Case continues

The fate of imprisoned opposition leader Ayman Nour is still unsettled, reports Mona El-Nahhas

The Administrative Court announced on Tuesday that any decision on whether Al-Ghad Party leader Ayman Nour will be released must wait until 26 June, when official medical reports into the opposition leader's state of health -- asked for on 22 May -- are due to be issued. Meanwhile, the court ruled that Nour's defence counsel -- who had complained of procrastination in preparing the official report -- could present evidence from independent medical specialists regarding their client's health.

The court ruling means that if the official report, prepared by the Forensic Medicine Department, is not presented within two weeks then the court will rely on independent assessments of Nour's health in delivering its ruling, raising hopes among supporters of the 43-year-old Nour that his 18 months behind bars might soon come to an end.

The judge presiding over the appeal for Nour's release stressed the court would not swayed by national or international calls for Nour's release, and the decision would be based entirely on the state of Nour's health. The former presidential election candidate suffers from diabetes, heart problems and hypertension and last year underwent heart surgery while in prison.

Nour's lawyer, Amir Salem, said the court's decision was a "historical ruling", adding it represented "a severe blow to administrative bodies used to ignoring court requests".

Nour's wife Gamila Ismail told reporters she had never expected the medical report to be made available to the court panel, which was why she was treating the court ruling as a victory.

But while Salem sounded upbeat, saying any ruling in Nour's favour must be implemented immediately, Ismail sounded a more cautious note, saying she feared US pressure for her husband's release could make the regime more stubborn about the case.

Legal sources say there is a possibility the Interior Ministry will ignore any ruling in Nour's favour, using the struggle between several legal bodies, including Prosecutor-General Abdel-Meguid Mahmoud's office, over who has the right to judge the case. While some observers worry about the negative consequences of US pressure for Nour's release, others point to the case of academic and pro-democracy activist Saadeddin Ibrahim. Sentenced by a state security court in 2001 to seven years in prison for receiving foreign funds without government permission, Ibrahim was released in 2003 following enormous US pressure.

Ahead of Tuesday's hearing session international calls for Nour's release increased.

During a short visit to Egypt this week a delegation from the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe talked with Egyptian officials about Nour's health.

"We are following Nour's case, and we are waiting for the court verdict, expected to be passed on Tuesday," said Sarah Ludford, a member of the European parliament.

During a conference on democracy held in the Czech Republic last week US President George W Bush called directly for Nour's release. "I look forward to the day when conferences like this one include... Ayman Nour of Egypt," Bush said.

The point was subsequently underlined by the US State Department.

"We believe that Nour should be released. We hope this could be achieved. We'll leave it to the Egyptian government to define the way by which it expresses its reactions," said Tom Cass, deputy spokesman of the US State Department.

"What Bush said concerning Egypt is an unacceptable intervention in our internal affairs," insisted Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul-Gheit following Bush's speech.

The National Council for Human Rights (NCHR) also weighed in with its disapproval. "Bush's statements concerning Nour's case place Egypt under no obligation," said NCHR Secretary-General Mokhles Qotb. "The law defines the legal channels that are pursued in this and similar cases."

Following a meeting of the Al-Ghad Party's higher committee a statement was released on Friday condemning Bush's statements and any external intervention in the case.

Egypt - Emma Bonito: Ayman Nour's sentencing is yet another blunder by a regime falling to pieces

Statement by Emma Bonino, MEP and member of the Secretariat of Rosa nel Pugno

Rome, December 28th 2005 - "One notable exception exists to the saying "History never repeats itself,": the régime run by Hosni Mubarak, a stagnant reality for over twenty years. " This is the comment made by the radical leader Emma Bonino, currently on mission in Sri Lanka to monitor Italian aid following last year's Tsunami devastation, on the five year sentence to prison inflicted on the president of the Egyptian Liberal Party, Ayman Nour.

"Similarly to what happened to Saad Ibrahim only a few years ago", continues Emma Bonino,"this ruling too has a political flavour and it was passed exactly for the same reasons: to use all possible excuses to hinder any liberal alternative might make headway in the country , even at the risk of repeating clumsy performances critisized by the international community in the past compelling Mubarak to embarassing about- turns.

Ayman Nour's sentencing is yet another blunder by a régime falling to pieces. As in the past, a major international mobilisation is necessary to support all those that, in Egypt, are active in trying to overturn this farcical verdict".

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.