CAIRO: A fire broke out on Thursday at a community center in Cairo founded by opposition leader Ayman Nour, who had held political meetings in the building before he was imprisoned by authorities. Nour s wife and spokeswoman, Gameela Ismail, said there were signs that an arson attack had occurred at the site, located in a working-class district of the city. The fire caused extensive smoke damage but no injuries.
The Nour Cultural Center was created to provide charity in his former parliament constituency, a densely populated neighborhood of Cairo. All of the people who were inside the building and around, and the fire department, said there might have been something thrown inside the building which caught fire, she told Reuters. Police prevented reporters from entering the building and said they would not speculate on the cause of the fire until investigations were complete.
Still hanging outside the burnt building were banners carrying Nour s electoral slogans. Vote for who will raise his and your voice, reads one banner. Who fears the word of truth, doesn t deserve life, reads another one. Nour, founder of the liberal El-Ghad (Tomorrow) Party, was the main rival to President Hosni Mubarak in presidential elections in September. He came a distant second with 8 percent of the vote and lost his Bab El-Shaaria parliamentary seat in legislative elections in November. He was sentenced to five years in jail last year on forgery charges he says were fabricated. The board of the Nour Association, which ran the center, has decided to send ashes from the fire to U.S. President George W. Bush as a gift for his announced support for democracy in Egypt, Ismail said. Egyptian liberals say that after campaigning hard last year for political change in the Arab world, the United States has reduced the pressure on Arab governments for reform. Agencies
