CAIRO, 26 September 2005 — The trial of Egyptian opposition leader Ayman Nour descended into chaos yesterday when his lawyers traded abuse with a fellow defendant, accusing her of being a government agent out to destroy Nour’s party.
Nour, who won 8 percent of the vote against President Hosni Mubarak’s 89 percent in Sept. 7 elections, is on trial with six former party workers charged with submitting forged signatures when his Ghad (Tomorrow) Party applied for official recognition last year.
His lawyers accused some of the six defendants of being government agents, after they said Nour had manipulated them and encouraged them to forge the signatures.
One of the six, Mirvet El-Sayed, shouted denunciations of Nour from the cage and threw water at members of the public.
At the end of the hearing, Nour lawyer Khaled Ahmed Salim clambered over chairs in an attempt to launch himself at Sayed as she was led out of court.
