Egypt: Mubarak regime cracks down on opposition

In one case that has received significant coverage within Egypt and the US, imprisoned liberal oppositionist Ayman Nour was charged with 17 criminal offences late last month. The politician is accused, among other things, of calling Mubarak “ineffective” and a “loser” at a campaign rally, assaulting a police officer, and funding a statue of an Egyptian composer. Prosecutors have declared the latter act to be an offence against Islam. Nour’s wife has also been charged with assaulting a security officer during a political rally.

Nour and his wife deny assaulting anyone and insist the charges are all politically motivated. In Egypt’s first multi-nominee presidential election last September, Nour won 7.6 percent of the vote amid widespread electoral fraud, government censorship, and intimidation and violence.

Last December he was sentenced to five years imprisonment on electoral fraud charges. Opposition groups and human rights organisations condemned the trial as a fraud. Among other irregularities, one of the prosecution’s witnesses retracted a statement which implicated Nour and claimed to have been coerced by state security forces.

The latest charges against the politician were issued just days after US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice visited Egypt and met with the president. She described Nour’s case as a “setback,” but stressed the Bush administration’s support for the Mubarak government and its fraudulent presidential and parliamentary elections held last year.

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http://www.wsws.org/articles/2006/mar2006/egyp-m11.shtml