Ailing and weak from a hunger strike, Ghad Party Chairman Ayman Nour awaits Saturday's verdict. Mona El-Nahhas reports Prominent opposition figure Ayman Nour, detained on 5 December pending a verdict in his trial on forgery charges, was moved to Tora Prison's hospital this week, after his health deteriorated in the wake of the hunger strike he started on 10 December. Prison authorities agreed to hospitalise Nour after his doctor certified that his condition was life threatening. The doctor found that Nour had an unusually high level of acetone in his blood and urine, said Nour's wife, TV announcer Gamila Ismail. A diabetic with high blood pressure and heart problems, Nour began his hunger strike to protest the way he has been treated at the prison, where authorities were not allowing him to meet either his wife or his lawyers. His food and medication were also delayed. Previously on bail, Nour was placed in detention by the judge until the final ruling, scheduled for this Saturday. Although the judge did not provide a reason for the detention order, Nour's defense team interpreted the move as a prelude to a guilty sentence. During a hearing 10 days ago, Nour told the court that prison authorities fingerprinted him like a convicted criminal. He told reporters that it looked like they already had a ruling convicting him. Describing his hunger strike, Nour said, "I will continue until I die." A statement issued by Nour's liberal Ghad Party said Nour faced the risk of slipping into a coma. The Egyptian Organisation for Human Rights demanded Nour's immediate release, on account of his poor health, and asked for an investigation into his detention conditions. Nour's wife Ismail said doctors would be correcting the imbalance in Nour's blood with fluids administered intravenously. Nour, 41, is charged with forging nearly 1400 of the membership applications he used to register his party last year. He pleaded not guilty, saying the case against him was state- fabricated and aimed at ruining his political career. According to Nour, the other co- defendants -- who used to work in his office -- were state agents who infiltrated his party and committed the forgery to frame him. Nour was arrested in January. In March, he was released on LE10,000 bail after his detention strained Egypt's relations with the US. His trial started in June at the same court that sentenced sociologist and democracy advocate Saadeddin Ibrahim to seven years jail time in 2001. Ibrahim later won an appeal and was acquitted. Nour's lawyers think the government deliberately chose the same court for Nour's trial. In October, Nour asked that the panel heading the court be replaced, citing its inability to provide him with a fair trial. His request was quashed by the Appeals Court, which also fined him LE9000. The US State Department -- which said it was closely following Nour's trial -- called upon the Egyptian government to make every effort to ensure that the proceedings conform to international standards. Nour was President Hosni Mubarak's main rival in Egypt's first multi-candidate presidential elections in September, winning eight per cent of the vote compared to Mubarak's 89 per cent. In subsequent parliamentary elections, however, Nour lost his seat representing the Cairo constituency of Bab Al-Shariya. He blamed government intimidation, electoral fraud and ballot box tampering for his defeat.
