CAIRO: Ayman Nour came to prominence when he placed second in the 2005 Presidential elections. Shortly after, he was serving a five-year prison sentence on charges of forging Powers of Attorney when setting up his political party, Al-Ghad.
He was released Feb. 18 on grounds of his health which deteriorated considerably during his incarceration.
Nour sat down with Daily News Egypt to discuss a plethora of issues, the political future of Egypt, his prison experience and his relationship with the United States.
Daily News Egypt: What do you think were the reasons behind your early release?
Ayman Nour: It wasn’t too early; there were four months left. I don’t have specific reasons but I have a group of them. Part of it was pressure from domestic and international public opinion. It was also said that the new American administration put pressure or that the Egyptian administration wanted to turn a new leaf with the new American administration. This is all possible but I don’t have anything to confirm or refute this.
It was a ridiculous case which was fabricated and I was imprisoned right after I ran in the presidential election where I came second and a competitor to the current president.
It was naïve to let it drag on so long but it was delayed for unknown reasons. I’m not surprised that the release occurred now but I am astonished that it took so long because it didn’t need to last four years.
I think my release could be an indicator of other democratic embellishments in Egypt. We wish an end to military rulings, the abolition of the emergency law, and the fabricated cases to public figures such as Saad Eddin Ibrahim. I hope my release signals the beginning of all this and more important than releasing Ayman Nour is releasing the rights of Ayman Nour.
The powers in Egypt played a strange game, which was releasing the person but continuing to imprison his rights. This has led to me being prevented from working. While in court today – for compensation I am filing because doctors were not allowed to visit me during four years of incarceration, which led to a great deterioration in my health – I was surprised that the lawyer representing the Ministry of Interior requested that I be considered not present because I don’t have the right to sue or be present in a courtroom.
The state wants to execute me alive and I think that is more dangerous than my incarceration. I will face this.
What sort of rights violations were you subjected to and what do youintend to do about them?
The violations can be split into two kinds. First, there were violations that occurred from the beginning of the case up until my release which were disgraceful and absurd. It’s enough to say that I have court rulings in my favor which have not been carried out, over my right to receive food, my right to have medicine admitted to me and doctors to see me. Other rulings in my favor were to have a door in the bathroom in my cell, the right to pray in the prison mosque – all these were also not given to me.
Not to mention being arrested on a fabricated charge, arrested at the parliament, and other violent assaults. In one incident I had 16 injuries. The police officer who led this was promoted instead of being held accountable and punished. It was a flagrant abuse of the law and the constitution. I filed 2,012 complaints while I was in prison, all of them were ignored. This is very dangerous not just because it affects human rights but also the mind of this nation and the mind of this regime which is supposed to be a wise one. It should not resort to these types of violations.
One of the violations I face now is being prevented from the right to work, which is very dangerous because it makes it difficult to fund my party. It also closes the door on my legal existence. [Nour has been disbarred from the lawyers syndicate for being convicted of a felony].
The regime sees you as a competitor to Gamal Mubarak so you have to pay the price for this competition until he takes over. And I say it won’t happen, I will not declare my approval to the inheritance of power for Gamal Mubarak, nor will I declare that I will not compete with him. I will not leave the scene and escape, I live in Egypt and I will fight in Egypt. They stripped me of my career but now I have time to do work which, had they known about it, they would not have made this mistake.
Yet how can you do this when you are currently banned from political participation for being convicted of a felony?
Actually that is unconstitutional. They say that based on forgotten articles. This particular article has been around since 1937, and they took it from Italian legislature. Italy cancelled it in 1933, even before we adopted it, because it was considered a violation of human rights. Germany cancelled it in 1934 and so did France.
This article is not used in Egypt; it is only applied to me. The Egyptian Constitution of 1971 supposedly put an end to all this. Nobody paid attention to cancel this but we will cancel it. There is no logic that says we defer to the wishes of the ruler when it comes to competing with the ruler. We will resort to the people and the ballot box. If I am such a bad person, then let the people say I am one. Let the people punish me morally by not electing me. But for you to prevent and prohibit is not acceptable in these times. Public opinion in Egypt and abroad does not accept this.
I did not forge elections, or referendums, or the will of the nation for 30 years, nor did I profit from this forgery. I am more honest than a lot of other people and they should not force me to go into this comparison because it is not in anyone’s interest.
What’s your plan, what steps are you going to take now?
We will continue our work. Every week we go to the governorates, we work with the Egyptians, we knock on their doors. We don’t knock on anyone else’s, we don’t travel anywhere. I am travelling this month for medical treatment and I might give a speech at the European Parliament on the basis that I was a member of the International Parliament. If my health permits I will do this but my battle is in Egypt and it will end in victory for freedom and democracy as well as reform and progress for the country.
What can you tell us about your relationship with the United States, if any, especially as the previous administration constantly called for your release?
I don’t have a special relationship with the United States but I had relations with all countries through my parliamentary activities. The European Parliament took a stand in my case, and so did the US congress. The Egyptian media focused solely on the American stand, because the US stance was prominent. The current and previous administrations called for the release of a person who was a candidate and competitor in the first elections in Egypt’s history.
The US administration has the right to express an opinion; I do not interfere in its affairs. I did not request anyone to intervene, but also I did not refuse the intervention of anyone calling for my freedom.
What is your comment on the schism that occurred in your party during your incarceration which led to the burning down of the party headquarters?
Security forces interfere in Egyptian political life, in the parties, in the religious institutions, in official institutions, everything. Part of their modus operandi is to manipulate the course of political parties by appropriating certain members which they use. This is what happened with us. As for the fire, I knew about it from my cell four days before it happened and reported it to the relevant authorities. And for security forces to allow the fire to go unchecked for so long was scandalous.
What was it like in prison?
It is a very harsh experience, but there were many positives to take from it. I learnt a lot of truths; I saw injustice and lived it for four years so I became more attuned to it. My priorities changed. There is a priority to reform the justice system in Egypt. Justice in Egypt is a catastrophe. Justice comes before freedom and all th
e other values we called for because it is the only guarantee to achieve these values. There is no equality without justice, no reform, no transparency and no free elections.
