Court rules to retry Ayman Nour, opening doors to run for president

Ayman Nour's party celebrates Court of Cassation decision to retry the case that landed him jail time and excluded him as a presidential candidate

Egypt's Court of Cassation has accepted a petition to retry presidential hopeful, Ayman Nour.
Ayman Nour has a criminal record and was, therefore, according to Egyptian law, excluded from official candidacy. Nour had announced publicly that he plans to run for president in the upcoming elections later this year, but the previous conviction thwarted his political ambitions.
Today's decision by the Court of Cassation to retry him in the same court, however, signifies that if he manages to prove his innocence he can pave the way to run for office again. A date has yet to be set for the new trial.
Nour was sentenced to five years in jail in 2005 for forging documents used to secure the legal status of his party, Al Ghad (Tomorrow).
This will be the second time Nour runs for president. His first attempt was against ousted president Mubarak in 2005, in which he was the first runner-up.
The members of the Al Ghad party cheered enthusiastically outside the court when they heard the decision. According to his son, Nour Nour, the group will begin a celebratory march from the court to the party's headquarters in Talaat Harb Street.