Nour barred from running MINISTER of Justice Adel Abdel-Hamid rejected a petition pardoning the potential presidential candidate Ayman Nour, who has been prohibited from entering the race after being convicted of fraud. The petition to pardon Nour was submitted by a number of parliamentary members. Nour, who founded the liberal Ghad Party which was later named Ghad Al-Thawra, spent four years in jail after being convicted of electoral fraud, following his campaign in the 2005 presidential elections. In 2011 he unsuccessfully contested the conviction, arguing that he had been wrongly convicted. According to Abdel-Hamid, no one can pardon Nour because he has been convicted of forgery which he said was a felony. "According to the law, Nour is banned from running for any political office for at least five years after the end of his jail term. Nour's conviction means he will be banned from participating in any official political activities, including standing as a candidate in the upcoming presidential race," said Abdel-Hamid. Abdel-Moneim El-Tunsi, a member of the Ghad Al-Thawra proposed a bill which would have ended the sanctions against Nour that prohibits him from running in the presidential elections, set to start in March 2012. Government representative of the Suggestions and Complaints Committee in parliament, Omar El-Sherif, said that the government would not implement such a bill. El-Sherif added that it would not be possible to accept a bill on behalf of a specific person over others who have been charged in similar cases. Nour could file an individual appeal before the court, El-Sherif added. Nour ran against Mubarak in the 2005 presidential elections, finishing a distant second, which he has claimed was the main reason for the charges against him. Nour was released from prison in 2009 for health reasons after serving more than four years. Luxor assailant released THE MILITARY Court released Mohamed Shawqi El-Islambouli on 26 February due to health reasons. El-Islambouli was convicted of killing 58 tourists and three Egyptians in Luxor in 1997. Mohamed El-Islambouli is the brother of Khaled El-Islambouli who assassinated former president Anwar El-Sadat in 1981. After a brief detention in 1985 Mohamed El-Islambouli fled the country, travelling across Afghanistan and Pakistan before settling in Iran. El-Islambouli was sentenced to death in absentia in 1992 in a case known in the media as "The Returnees from Afghanistan". El-Islambouli stayed in Iran for eight years before he was deported to Egypt in May 2011. Security forces arrested El-Islambouli upon his arrival at Cairo International Airport and was retried. Several Islamists sentenced in absentia have returned to Cairo from exile since the fall of Hosni Mubarak as president in February 2011 in order to appeal court rulings against them. Hassan denies accusations SALAFI preacher Sheikh Mohamed Hassan denied any role in the so-called "Battle of the Camel" after video surfaced online of him entering the state TV building on 1 February 2011. The Battle of the Camel took place on 2 February 2011 at the height of Egypt's revolution. Pro-Mubarak thugs stormed Tahrir Square on camels and horses, killing 11 protesters and injuring more than 2,000. "It hurts me that some people are trying to connect my visit to the state TV building on 1 February 2011 with the Battle of the Camel on 2 February," said Hassan on Sunday. Speaking on his own TV show on the Al-Rahma religious channel, Hassan claimed that he went to the building to complain about state TV's biased coverage of the uprising and left less than 10 minutes later. After leaving the building he went directly to Tahrir Square to urge youths to continue their protest, he said. Hassan questioned why the video had surfaced at a time he is currently leading a campaign to replace US funds with donations from Egyptians. He also asked why he would cooperate with the Mubarak regime when it had just closed down his religious TV channel. Some activists accused Hassan of supporting the Mubarak regime and changing his position after the revolution succeeded. Tycoon exonerated BOULAQ Abul-Ela Misdemeanor Court has dismissed the lawsuit filed against the Coptic tycoon businessman Naguib Sawiris in which he was accused of insulting Islam. Sawiris angered Muslims when he posted on his Twitter account a cartoon of Mickey Mouse with a beard and Minnie Mouse wearing a face veil in satire about the increasing influence of Islamists since the ousting of former president Hosni Mubarak. The case first began in mid-January when Sawiris was accused of contempt of religion. The Prosecution Office of Central Cairo referred the case to court after investigating the complaint which was filed against Sawiris, accusing him of disrespecting Islam after he posted the cartoons on his official Twitter account in June 2011.
