JEDDAH/CAIRO, 27 December 2005 — Many Egyptians working in Saudi Arabia said they were not surprised by the court decision against opposition leader Ayman Nour, who was sentenced to five years in jail on forgery charges. Khaled Abdul Aziz Younus, who has been working in the Kingdom for the last 11 years, said scores of Egyptians were expecting a major court verdict against Nour for daring to contest the polls against the president.
Younus, a friend of Nour, said the court ruling would make Nour a hero and improve his political position. “It will not be the end of his political career,” he said, citing that Nour had been jailed several times during his college days.
Journalist Shakir Abdul Aziz, who has been working for Al-Bilad newspaper for more than 25 years, stressed that the verdict against Nour was politically motivated.
Ashraf Ahmed Ameen, who works at the office of a Saudi businessman, expressed his surprise over the quick court verdict against Nour while thousands of cases still remain in pending without the court taking a decision on them.
“I think they wanted to frighten those who stand against the establishment,” Dr. Khalaf Al-Muhammadi, who works for a private hospital, said on the verdict. But Riyad Abdullah, an engineer, said Nour deserved the sentence for forging documents.
Judge Abdel Salam Goma, who issued the verdicts, rejected claims that Nour’s trial was politically motivated. Nour seemed calm during the trial but turned very nervous upon hearing the verdict, especially when the guards pulled him to jail. His wife started to gather supporters outside the court yard shouting “Down with Hosni Mubarak, down with the Egyptian regime.”
Nour’s wife, suspended TV anchor Jamila Ismael, intends to protest by staying in a tent in Talaat Harb Street downtown until they release her husband. Jamila is also thinking of leaving the country with her children, people close to her told Arab News.
