Egypt's Nour jailed for 5 years
Unbelievable...there's no hope for my people.
CAIRO, Egypt (AP) -- A court sentenced leading government opponent Ayman Nour to five years' imprisonment for forgery on Saturday at the end of a year-long judicial process that has drawn international criticism and strained Egypt's relations with the United States.
The guilty verdict provoked uproar from the hundreds of supporters of Nour, the runner-up in this year's presidential elections, in and around the courtroom.
"God is great!" Nour and his wife, Gameela Ismail, shouted immediately. Chief defense counsel Amir Salem cried: "This is a political verdict that will be annulled by the appeal court.
"This verdict will go into the dustbin of history," Salem shouted. Salem added that he would appeal to the Court of Cassation, the highest appeal body.
Referring to President Hosni Mubarak, Nour's wife shouted "Down with Hosni Mubarak!"
Outside the court, about 500 supporters of Nour chanted "Hosni Mubarak's rule is illegal!" and "the trial is illegal!"
They were barred from the court building by hundreds of riot police, who had closed off the street. About a hundred Nour supporters had slept in the street, which had been cordoned off since late Friday, and some were seen crying after the verdict.
Looking pale, Nour had arrived in the court from hospital where he had been held in custody for a week after starting a hunger strike to protest his detention. The court ordered him detained on December 5, indicating that the judge was likely to find him guilty.
Nour had pleaded innocent to ordering the forging of signatures to register his Al-Ghad party last year. During the trial, one of his six co-defendants retracted his confession telling the court that security officials had coerced him to accuse Nour of forgery.
The verdicts of the co-defendants were not heard Friday as the courtroom erupted in shouts as soon as the judge delivered Nour's conviction and sentence. Judge Abdel Salam Gomaa gave no explanation of his findings and left the court.
Nour finished a distant second to longtime President Mubarak in September's elections, Egypt's first contested presidential race, and lost his parliamentary seat in November's legislative polls. He is appealing the November result, alleging irregularities.
Nour has claimed his trial is an attempt by the state to destroy him politically. His Al-Ghad Party distributed a statement at the court Friday saying the verdict was "a matter of settling of the accounts of the presidential elections."
"The verdict had been issued long time ago, and it did not come from the court but from the regime which has destroyed political life for many decades," Al-Ghad said.
Egypt's prosecutor general has said the case against Nour is strictly a legal matter.
Nour's initial arrest on January 29 arrest and 42-day detention without charge strained U.S.-Egyptian relations. Newspapers such as The New York Times and Washington Post called for his release and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice canceled a visit to Egypt, apparently in disapproval of the government's treatment of Nour.
On Friday, the Washington Post said that Nour was being vindictively prosecuted on "trumped-up charges." In an editorial, the newspaper said the trial judge was "notorious for handling the president's dirty work," and urged President George W. Bush to use U.S. aid to Egypt as a lever to procure Nour's freedom.
Judge Gomaa convicted the sociology professor and rights activist Saad Eddin Ibrahim, an Egyptian-American, of tarnishing Egypt's image in 2002. The Court of Cassation overturned the verdict.
Earlier this month, State Department spokesman Adam Ereli said the United States was calling on Egypt "to make every effort to ensure that this trial conforms to international standards."
CAIRO, Egypt (AP) -- A court sentenced leading government opponent Ayman Nour to five years' imprisonment for forgery on Saturday at the end of a year-long judicial process that has drawn international criticism and strained Egypt's relations with the United States.
The guilty verdict provoked uproar from the hundreds of supporters of Nour, the runner-up in this year's presidential elections, in and around the courtroom.
"God is great!" Nour and his wife, Gameela Ismail, shouted immediately. Chief defense counsel Amir Salem cried: "This is a political verdict that will be annulled by the appeal court.
"This verdict will go into the dustbin of history," Salem shouted. Salem added that he would appeal to the Court of Cassation, the highest appeal body.
Referring to President Hosni Mubarak, Nour's wife shouted "Down with Hosni Mubarak!"
Outside the court, about 500 supporters of Nour chanted "Hosni Mubarak's rule is illegal!" and "the trial is illegal!"
They were barred from the court building by hundreds of riot police, who had closed off the street. About a hundred Nour supporters had slept in the street, which had been cordoned off since late Friday, and some were seen crying after the verdict.
Looking pale, Nour had arrived in the court from hospital where he had been held in custody for a week after starting a hunger strike to protest his detention. The court ordered him detained on December 5, indicating that the judge was likely to find him guilty.
Nour had pleaded innocent to ordering the forging of signatures to register his Al-Ghad party last year. During the trial, one of his six co-defendants retracted his confession telling the court that security officials had coerced him to accuse Nour of forgery.
The verdicts of the co-defendants were not heard Friday as the courtroom erupted in shouts as soon as the judge delivered Nour's conviction and sentence. Judge Abdel Salam Gomaa gave no explanation of his findings and left the court.
Nour finished a distant second to longtime President Mubarak in September's elections, Egypt's first contested presidential race, and lost his parliamentary seat in November's legislative polls. He is appealing the November result, alleging irregularities.
Nour has claimed his trial is an attempt by the state to destroy him politically. His Al-Ghad Party distributed a statement at the court Friday saying the verdict was "a matter of settling of the accounts of the presidential elections."
"The verdict had been issued long time ago, and it did not come from the court but from the regime which has destroyed political life for many decades," Al-Ghad said.
Egypt's prosecutor general has said the case against Nour is strictly a legal matter.
Nour's initial arrest on January 29 arrest and 42-day detention without charge strained U.S.-Egyptian relations. Newspapers such as The New York Times and Washington Post called for his release and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice canceled a visit to Egypt, apparently in disapproval of the government's treatment of Nour.
On Friday, the Washington Post said that Nour was being vindictively prosecuted on "trumped-up charges." In an editorial, the newspaper said the trial judge was "notorious for handling the president's dirty work," and urged President George W. Bush to use U.S. aid to Egypt as a lever to procure Nour's freedom.
Judge Gomaa convicted the sociology professor and rights activist Saad Eddin Ibrahim, an Egyptian-American, of tarnishing Egypt's image in 2002. The Court of Cassation overturned the verdict.
Earlier this month, State Department spokesman Adam Ereli said the United States was calling on Egypt "to make every effort to ensure that this trial conforms to international standards."
posted by Basil Epicurus at 5:20 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home