CAIRO: Ayman Nour, the jailed former head of El Ghad opposition party, was whisked right back to prison right after undergoing a cardiac catheter at Kasr El Aini hospital. He was not allowed to see his wife or lawyer. I do not know how Nour is doing after the operation as the Egyptian security guards did not allow us to check on him, said Amir Salem, Nour's lawyer and the legal consultant of El Ghad political party. The operation itself was approved after excessive requests filed by Salem. Until time of press, according to Salem, there were no updates concerning the five new complaints that were filed against Nour on Sunday. Samer Soliman, political science assistant professor at the American University in Cairo, criticized the opposition parties for their negative stance towards Nour s case. The main problem in the Egyptian political situation now is the weakness of the opposition parties. The only active political power in Egypt is the Islamic current, and that is paralyzing the Egyptian opposition system, Soliman told The Daily Star Egypt. Now in Egypt the regime is hated, but there is no other alternative to it but the religious system, said Soliman. Soliman stated that the emergence of Nour had given some hope at the beginning and was promising , yet Nour had committed some mistakes that led to the downfall of his party. Nour created a party that revolves around him, a very charismatic political leader, and a few figures around him. He did not build a true strong institution, said Soliman. Soliman expects reactions on what is happening to Nour on the average Egyptian citizen. In the past intellectuals were expected to be treated differently with more respect, unlike average normal citizens who expect to get humiliated if they were not carrying their national IDs, Soliman said. Now what is happening to Nour will intimidate Egyptians who won't dare take a stand. He said: They will think 'what will happen to us, normal people, if that happed to Nour [the famous intellectual political leader] .
