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| Africa: North | |
| Egypt 'bans' opposition leader's paper | |
| 2005-03-09 | |
| CAIRO — Egyptian authorities yesterday blocked distribution of the first edition of detained opposition leader Ayman Nur's newspaper in which he announces his intention to run for president, his wife said. The weekly newspaper Al Ghad (Tomorrow) "was printed but even as the copies were in the cars on their way to being distributed, they were recalled," Gamila Ismail told AFP. Nur was arrested in January on charges of "falsifying official documents" in a case that has raised concern among international human rights groups and within the US administration. His detention comes amid intense political upheaval in Egypt, and the 40-year-old lawyer has become for some a symbol of the movement for democratic reform. Nur's party lawyer Amir Salem said the paper had a deal with the government daily Al Ahram for printing and distribution "but the workers there were told last night (Monday) by state security people to stop the distribution. Meanwhile, The Egyptian opposition has expressed fears that the People's Assembly (parliament), which is dominated by the ruling National Democratic Party, would impose 'impossible conditions', making the proposed amendment of the country's constitution vague.
And the 'Al Wafd' opposition party has said that they should not nominate a rival runner for presidency without providing satisfactory conditions for free candidacy, appropriate polling and appropriate counting. President Mubarak has addressed Shura and People's Assembly (two houses of parliament) announcing a proposal for amending the constitution to allow for race of more than one runner to the post of President scheduled for next September. | |
| Posted by:Steve White |