CAIRO: A demonstration to protest the political isolation of prominent opposition figure Ayman Nour is being organized for tomorrow at 5pm outside the Journalists Syndicate in downtown Cairo. The protest is organized by the ‘Support Ayman Nour' front. The front demands that Egypt's ruling military council intervene and pardon Nour or ease the sentence against him. Such intervention is granted to the council under Article 56 of the 2011 Constitutional Declaration. In the same context, a group of political activists will organize an electronic protest tomorrow to support Nour by posting the request to pardon Nour on the military council's Facebook page. On Sunday, the Cairo Court of Cassation rejected an appeal by Nour to overturn a 2006 verdict that found him guilty of forgery. The appeal's rejection means the 2006 verdict stands. Forgery is considered a crime of dishonor, and under the Egyptian penal code Nour is forbidden from holding any public office or chairing an association, party or syndicate until 2016. Nour and his supporters maintain that the case was politically motivated, intended to punish Nour for daring to challenge then-President Hosni Mubarak in Egypt's 2005 presidential election. The prohibition would keep him from contesting Egypt's upcoming presidential election.
