CAIRO: Gamal Mubarak, younger son of deposed Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak, asked to be imprisoned in the Tora Prison cell which once held prominent opposition figure Ayman Nour. “Gamal wanted to be detained in the same cell I was, but the prison administration refused, said Nour, chairman of the liberal al-Ghad Party and longtime critic of the Mubarak Regime. “The cell was reserved for those who are greater,” Nour added. Nour's statements came during declarations to the press on the sidelines of a meeting organized by the Rotary Club of Alexandria on Wednesday. Nour expressed his support for any coalition calling for the establishment of a civil state. He also welcomed the plurality of presidential candidates to prepare the Egyptian people for free choice after a painful experience of tyranny. Nour, an expected presidential candidate, ruled out the possibility of any one political party gaining the absolute majority during the next parliamentary elections. He predicted that the presidential elections will witness a runoff election between two candidates. Nour refused the Muslim Brotherhood's possession of both a political party and a religious party at the same time, demanding that the Brotherhood review the matter. Nour pledged the release of all political prisoners if he were elected president. He said the draft constitution drawn up by al-Ghad Party stipulates choosing the members of the government through the parliament. He also promised to hiring three vice-presidents, among whom would be a woman and a Christian. Nour demanded the newly-formed National Security Agency be transparent in its actions to pave the way for reconciliation with the people. He also said an apology should be made to the Egyptian people for the human rights violations committed over recent years. He said the Egyptian people will not accept the apology of killers or offenders, who must bear the responsibility of their decisions. Nour denied that Tora Prison isn't a “five-star” prison. He said Tora is the best among other prisons which suffer from corruption. He criticized the decision to not transfer Mubarak Tora Prison's hospital, saying, as Mubarak said before the January 25 Revolution which toppled him from power, that it is a five-star hospital. Nour refused to comment on the increasing complaints against the figures of the former regime submitted by Mustafa Bakry. Nour has been recognized as an anti-Mubarak force for more than a decade. He ran in the 2005 presidential elections, catching all of Egypt off guard by coming in second with around 10 percent of the votes. He was subsequently imprisoned in Tora Prison in a forgery conviction which was largely recognized by his supporters and the international community as being politically motivated. Last week, Egyptian prosecutors agreed to retry the case which put Nour behind bars for nearly four years.
