Will the jailed leader of the liberal Ghad Party soon be free? Mona El-Nahhas looks for clues , leader of the liberal opposition Ghad Party, currently serving a five-year jail sentence on charges of forging signatures in order to get the party licensed, is due to be examined today by an official medical committee. The results of the examination will determine whether or not the committee recommends him for release through a presidential pardon. The committee comprises the prison doctor, five doctors working for the Forensic Medicine Authority and a professor at one of Egypt's faculties of medicine. The examination follows persistent rumours of Nour's impending release following repeated calls that he be freed by writers and human rights activists. "I may differ with Nour in ideological terms but as a person I feel I must stand with him," wrote Salah Montasser in his daily column in the state-owned Al-Ahram on Sunday. Sources within the Ghad Party say that senior government officials have already indicated that Nour will be released following the medical examination. They say party leaders have been told that the release may be announced before the Lesser Bairam, which marks the end of Ramadan. Yet according to Nour's wife, Gamila Ismail, the Ghad's assistant secretary-general, "nothing is certain", not even the medical check up. In a complaint filed before the prosecutor-general Nour had earlier stated that he had been refused medical examinations by the Interior Ministry's Prisons Authority, which had prevented him from receiving treatment and undergoing essential surgery on his heart. Nour has gone on hunger strike more than once to protest the conditions of his detention. While 110 members of parliament submitted a request to the president asking for Nour's release several months ago they have as yet received no reply and last month Nour's family called on political activists to intervene and begin to press for Nour's release in accordance with the constitution. In an interview with The Wall Street Journal last month US President George W Bush said he expected President Mubarak to release Nour according "to his own laws". Bush's statement, void of any pressing tone, reflects the US administration's retreat from its earlier position of support for political reformers. In January 2005, immediately following Nour's arrest, Washington had been vociferous in its demands for his release, leading some of Nour's opponents to brand him as a US agent. Should he be released Nour will face a ban on engaging in political activity for at least six years, one of the conditions of any presidential pardon. Last May, after the Court of Cassation rejected Nour's petition for a retrial, his memberships of both the Press Syndicate and the Bar Association were cancelled. The Ghad Party, which holds its general assembly next November, is widely expected to elect former diplomat Nagui El-Ghitrifi, Nour's replacement as chairman, to serve for a further 12 months as party head. "Saving Nour's life now takes priority over everything else," said Ismail. Nour suffers from a coronary condition exacerbated by diabetes and high blood pressure. In order for Nour to resume his political career and clear his name he must file a rehabilitation suit six years after his release, which effectively prevents him from running in the presidential elections scheduled for 2011. Analysts believe that timing is now crucial to Nour's being set free. The man who came second to President Mubarak in last year's first multi-candidate presidential elections will be released, they believe, only as long as he constitutes no threats to Gamal Mubarak's plans to succeed his father. Nour, who made his reputation by criticising the regime, is unlikely to be able to continue doing so any time soon.
