Prominent Egyptian dissident Saad Eddin Ibrahim on Sunday signed a petition supporting a presidential run by Gamal Mubarak, the 47-year-old son of President Hosni Mubarak, in next year's elections. Ibrahim, head of the Cairo-based Ibn Khaldun Center for Development Studies, said he had signed the petition--issued by the Popular Coalition in Support of a Gamal Mubarak Candidacy--“because every Egyptian has the right to run for elections that are free, fair and under international and local supervision.” He added that a presidential bid by Gamal Mubarak would not amount to the "inheritance" of the presidency, as has been claimed by the younger Mubarak's detractors. Magdi al-Kordi, coordinator of the pro-Gamal coalition, said he had contacted Ibrahim in order to “get better acquainted with various political forces, exchange views and reach agreement on a single presidential candidate." “My next meeting will be with Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohamed Badie,” al-Kordi noted. In a series of articles written in 2000, Ibrahim had been one of the first Egyptian "intellectuals" to warn of the "bequeathal" of political power from Arab heads of state to their sons. Ibrahim's warnings had coincided with the assumption of the Syrian presidency by Bashar al-Assad--son of late Syrian president Hafez al-Assad--and the rise of Gamal Mubarak in Egyptian political life. Ibrahim, a political activist and university professor who holds US citizenship, left for the United States upon his release from prison in 2003 after serving three years for "tarnishing Egypt's reputation," a charge for which he was eventually acquitted by Egypt's Court of Cassation. Ibrahim returned to Egypt earlier this month. Translated from the Arabic Edition.
