CAIRO: Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, leader of Egypt's custodial government, and the Supreme Council of Armed Forces, has pardoned Ayman Nour. Tantawi's pardon, issued today, restores Nour's full political rights, including his right to hold public office. Nour, considered a liberal by Egyptian standards, had unsuccessfully appealed his conviction, in an attempt to run for president. Nour's lingering Mubarak-era conviction had prevented him from running in the upcoming Egyptian presidential elections. Nour was convicted and sentenced to five years in prison for forging signatures on petitions to register his political party in 2005, and this, at a time when Nour ran against Mubarak in sham elections that were promoted as having been democratic. Nour served four years in an Egyptian prison for that conviction, but was released early for health-related issues. Conditions in Mubarak-era prisons are notorious for having been harsh to the point of inhumane. Most analysts saw the raid on Nour's offices, arrest and conviction Mubarak's response to Nour having dared challenge Mubarak in an election. At a time when Egypt's liberals are disorganized, in a panic and showing poorly at the polls in parliamentary elections, Nour's return to the political arena would be viewed as a hopeful and realistic candidate for those fearing the complete political take-over of Egypt's landscape by the Muslim Brotherhood's political wing, the Freedom and Justice Party. Secular liberals in Egypt have less support than the ultra-conservative Islamic Salafist party. BM ShortURL: http://goo.gl/nLRDa Tags: Ayman Nour, Egypt, Elections, featured, Pardoned, Presidential, Tantawi Section: Egypt, Latest News
