CAIRO, 24 June 2005 — Egyptian authorities yesterday banned Ghad Party leader Ayman Nour from leaving the country to attend a meeting with the European Parliament, party officials said.
Nour, who was heading to Brussels to attend a meeting of the European Parliament addressing democracy in the Middle East, said he was held at the Cairo International Airport amid tight security after being told that he has to get a permission from the prosecutor general to leave the country.
“The airport authorities informed me that I wouldn’t be allowed to leave the country as long as I do not have this permission since I have to attend a court hearing next Tuesday,” said Nour. “My request for a permit was denied and what happened today was unconstitutional and I have already filed a lawsuit against the prosecutor general and the Ministry of Interior,” Nour told Arab News. Officials at the prosecutor general’s office said it was only up to the court to decide if the party leader should be allowed to leave the country or not.
Nour, a candidate in the presidential elections, is due to stand trial next week in a criminal court along with six other defendants from the Al Ghad party. The seven members are being accused of forging the party’s power of attorney documents, but Nour maintains that the accusation was fabricated by the authorities who do not want any potential challenger to run against President Hosni Mubarak in the September presidential elections.
Nour was released on bail on March 12 after six weeks in prison over the alleged forgery case. His detention without charge raised concern in Washington, which called for his release. He was also one of the ten political and human rights activists that met with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in Cairo on Monday.
Nour told Arab News that his 10-year-old son was also prevented from leaving Egypt in May on a school trip. “Those two incidents are part of a broader plan to crackdown the voice of the opposition, but we will not give in,” he concluded.
