Prominent Egyptian opposition figure Ayman Nour has demanded that Egypt's Attorney General reopen investigations into a forgery case which saw him sentenced to prison five years ago. Nour, the founder of the liberal Ghad Party and a former presidential runner, was convicted in December 2005 in connection with the forging of proxies by party colleagues, which impeded his bid for the post of president. He was sentenced to five years in prison and released in Februrary 2009. Establishment of the Ghad Party was approved in October 2004. Nour said he has obtained documents leaked from the state security apparatus--the offices of which have been invaded by citizens over the past days--which show that the case was fabricated. Nour told Al-Masry Al-Youm that he has obtained more than 100 documents that provide evidence of state security involvement in destroying political and partisan life in Egypt. Some of these documents prove his case was fabricated, according to Nour. Nour said he has submitted a complaint to the Attorney General against former Interior Minister Habib al-Adly, former state security chief Hassan Abdel Rahman, and the judge who delivered the verdict against him, Abdel Salam Gomaa. Nour said his complaint included crimes punishable by the law, such as unlawful spying on his personal life, interference in judicial decisions, and intervention in partisan affairs. Nour explained that he has taken this move in order to remove the conviction from his criminal record. Egypt's Constitution bars people convicted of crimes of forgery from running for the presidency. Several branches of the notorious state security apparatus in different governorates have been broken into by citizens eager to preserve its official documents. They believe the documents will expose dirty practices such as the torture of political activists and terror suspects, as well as rigging the results of parliamentary and presidential elections. On breaking into the apparatus's offices over the past days, citizens discovered that huge amounts of documents had already been shredded. The offices are now under army custody.
