CAIRO: The Cairo Court of Cassation today refused the appeal submitted by potential presidential candidate Ayman Nour asking to retry the 2005 case in which Nour was convicted of forging papers for his political party, al-Ghad. After the verdict was released, sadness spread among Ayman Nour and his supporters, who withdrew from the court calmly. Nour said he expected this verdict and was not surprised. The hearing began at noon. Nour and his supporters arrived an hour before the hearing began and distributed Nour's his electoral publications for his presidential campaign. There was a strange situation inside the courthouse, where some of Nour's supporters surrounded lawyer Mortada Mansour, who was passing inside the building. The greeted and took photos with Mansour, despite an ongoing dispute between Mansour and Nour. Nour had submitted a petition to the public prosecutor demanding a retrial in his case. Nour was sentenced to five years in prison in May 2006, and the Cairo Court of Appeals supported the verdict in September 2009. Today's verdict will likely prevent Nour from running in upcoming presidential elections.
