Egypt releases prominent pro-democracy dissident

Egypt's government released Ayman Nour — the most prominent of Egypt's jailed pro-democracy dissidents — after more than three years in prison Wednesday in what was widely regarded as an effort to improve relations with the new administration of U.S. President Barack Obama. Nour told the Associated Press Wednesday that he had no warning about his release, nor could he explain the timing.

"Why they did this is unknown," AP quoted him as saying.

Nour's case has been a staple of U.S.-Egyptian talks ever since his conviction in December 2005 on charges of forging signatures for his party's efforts to contend in the 2005 presidential elections. He was arrested before the election, but the arrest drew strong protests from U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, and Nour was released and allowed to stand as the presidential candidate of Al-Ghad (Tomorrow), a secular, liberal party opposed to the longtime rule of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.

Official results of the September 2005 election gave Mubarak 88 percent of the vote, but the election was strongly criticized by international observers. A 2006 report from the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service noted that the elections were widely regarded as fraudulent. Still, even with official corruption, candidates affiliated with the banned Muslim Brotherhood won over 20 percent of the vote, and Nour's "Tomorrow" party won another 7 percent.

Shortly before that election — and just days before he was rearrested — Nour spoke at his home in Cairo with Sharon Otterman of CFR.org about his hopes for democracy in Egypt and the wider Middle East:

CFR: You’ve just wrapped up your presidential campaign with an enthusiastic rally here in Cairo. Looking back, what do feel you’ve been able to accomplish these past weeks?

Nour: The campaign was very short, only 18 days. We accomplished part of our mission to communicate with a huge number people from various sectors of Egyptian society. We had 23 rallies and visited 11 governorates. We were the most attractive campaign to the Egyptian people, obviously, with huge numbers of people coming to our events. So we feel we accomplished a part of our goals. When the results are out, they will demonstrate whether the election was free and fair enough to reflect the support we know we have from the people.

CFR: What is your best guess as to the final results?

Nour: If the elections were free and fair, I believe that President Mubarak would not get a large number of votes. Wide sections of the Egyptian community see that 24 years [of Mubarak rule] is a very long length of time to go without results. But if the elections are rigged, anything is possible.

CFR: Will the election be rigged?

Nour: The election will be neither free nor fair.

Click through to CFR.org for the rest of the interview.

For an update on the debate regarding political succession in Egypt, click here.

http://www.globalpost.com/notebook/worldview/090218/egypt-releases-prominent-pro-democracy-dissident