CAIRO: The human rights committee at the People's Assembly issued a report Monday about the health state of jailed opposition leader Ayman Nour. The report complemented a government medical committee report which concluded that Nour's health is stable. It said that his life was not in danger as long as took his medication and meals regularly. The human rights report declined to recommend to prosecutors that Nour be released early on medical grounds. It explained that the human rights committee had spoken to Nour for two hours, where the prisoner enumerated his health problems - which include heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure and arthritis - and requested permission to be examined by his private doctors. Last month Nour's family appealed to President Mubarak to release him citing a life-threatening health condition. Kamal El-Saadany, one of the three-member government medical team that examined Nour, told Reuters news agency: "We sent him to Cairo University hospital and they examined him for all his complaints. The result was that his health is OK. We took the decision all of us together; the same decision. There was no pressure at all. There are many cases in prison just like Ayman Nour's, and many cases more dangerous than Nour's. Nour sent a statement to his family after the human rights committee questioned him on Jan. 28 telling them that he already knew the results of the medical committee's investigation of Jan. 25. He described their decision as "unjust and "untrue . Amir Salem, legal consultant for Al Ghad Party which Nour used to head, told The Daily Star Egypt: "We have medical reports by leading specialists that say Nour's health can deteriorate all of a sudden. He added: "Our report should take precedence over the government committee's report which is marred by political pressure. He stressed that giving Nour medical amnesty hinges on a political decree from President Mubarak. It will not change the fact that Nour is still prohibited from exercising his political rights until his legal sentence ends. "Even if Nour files a lawsuit to regain his political rights, the legal procedures will take over two years, he said In 2005 Nour challenged Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak for the presidency and is now serving a five-year prison sentence after being convicted of fraud, a case that observers claim is politically motivated.
