CAIRO: Jailed opposition leader Ayman Nour s top lawyer and a colleague have gone missing, Nour s wife and spokeswoman, Gamila Ismail, told AFP Saturday. Amir Salem, the lead defense lawyer in Nour s forgery trial, and Ihab Al-Khouly, also a Nour lawyer and one of five vice presidents for Nour s El-Ghad (Tomorrow) party, have not been heard from for the past two days, Ismail said. Salem and Khouly were last seen on Thursday at a rally outside the Egyptian lawyers syndicate in Cairo, supporting two pro-reform judges who face disciplinary action for accusing the judiciary of helping the government rig legislative elections last fall. The demonstrators later clashed with security forces and more than a dozen were arrested. Salem is a prominent figure in the Egyptian National Association for Human Rights and an activist with Lawyers for Change, a movement that has been supporting dissident judges in their demand for an independent judiciary. The two were probably arrested by state security officers who had stalked them throughout the protests, Ismail said. However, judicial and security sources were not immediately available for comment. I think that the [government] is very hysterical that these movements support the judges, Ismail said. The fact that he (Salem) is active in Lawyers for Change and supports the judges … This made them go mad, she added. Nour, who mounted an aggressive challenge to President Hosni Mubarak in the September 2005 presidential poll, was slapped in December with a five-year prison sentence on charges of forgery, which he claims were fabricated. Ismail also expressed worry about the outcome of Nour s appeal hearing next month if Salem does not resurface soon. Salem has all the papers. He has the power of attorney, everything, Ismail said. Salem had also obtained permission for herself and her children to visit Nour in jail on Saturday, but could not go because Salem disappeared with the necessary papers, Ismail said. AFP
Nour's top lawyer missing: wife
