Egyptian opposition leader vows to defy travel ban

Cairo: Egyptian dissident Ayman Nour, who competed against President Hosni Mubarak for presidency in 2005, has vowed to challenge a decision barring him from travelling to the US.

“I’ll participate in the conferences to which I am invited in the US via the video-conference technology or the Internet,” Nour said in Cairo Thursday. “The regime seems to want to monopolise visits to the US and limit them to the (ruling) National Democratic Party.”

Egyptian authorities on Wednesday barred Nour, who had trailed a distant second to Mubarak in Egypt’s first competitive elections, from leaving for the US to attend conferences, including a meeting with the Egyptian-US Relations Council. The authorities said he is allowed to leave for medical reasons only. Last April, Nour a diabetic, was allowed to travel to Belgium on a medical trip where he also attended a conference.

Nour accused official agencies, which he did not name of being behind the decision to prevent him from going to the US where he would have given a series of lectures and met former president Jimmy Carter. “There is seemingly a link between this decision and trips planned by the Speaker of the (Egyptian) parliament and (Mubarak’s son) Jamal,” added Nour.

Since he was released from prison last February “on health grounds” after spending more than three years on forgery charges, Nour has been vociferously campaigning against what he says is a plan by Mubarak, 81, to hand over power to his younger son Jamal, a 46-year-old influential politician in the ruling party. Late last month, Nour launched an alliance of liberals and Islamists to block the alleged father-son succession.

On several occasions, Mubarak’s have denied such claims. Mubarak, who has been in power since 1981, has not designated a successor and has yet to say if he will seek a sixth six-year term after his current tenure ends in 2011.

Under Egyptian law, Nour is not eligible to stand for elections, including the presidential vote, because he was convicted of “a dishonoring offence”. He says his imprisonment, happening shortly after running for president in 2005, was politically motivated.

“I will not allow anyone to strip me of my human and political rights,” said Nour, who added he would go to court to “regain my legal rights”.