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Dissident's wife blasts US
14/05/2007 09:29 - (SA)
Cairo - The wife of a prominent jailed dissident blasted the Bush administration on Sunday for failing to pressure Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak into making democratic reforms.
Gamila Ismail, the wife of Ayman Nour, who is serving a five-year prison sentence after being convicted of fraud, also claimed Washington has turned a blind eye to her husband's case in favour of winning Mubarak's support for US policies in the region.
"The American priority is to make Mubarak help them impose the American hegemony on the region and not to safeguard democracy," she told the Associated Press.
Ismail made her accusations as US Vice-President Dick Cheney was in Cairo to persuade Mubarak to do more to support the Iraqi government.
Nour challenged Mubarak for the presidency in 2005, finishing a distant second in Egypt's first contested presidential elections. But he later went to prison after being convicted of forging signatures on petitions to register his party, Al-Ghad, as an official party in 2004.
International rights groups and Western governments, including the US, had rebuked Egypt for prosecuting him, adding weight to Nour's charge that the trial was politically motivated - an accusation Egypt denies.
US officials say the United States continues to follow Nour's case closely and engages the Egyptian government at the highest levels to advocate for his release and for appropriate medical care. During a visit to Egypt in January, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice asked Mubarak to release Nour because of health reasons.
Local rights groups have been campaigning for his release on the grounds of poor health. He has complained of heart and eye problems, and last year, Nour, a diabetic who depends on insulin, underwent cardiovascular surgery while a prisoner.
Ismail also claimed that Nour was assaulted by security men on Saturday in a courthouse and was recently brought a criminal court for question on allegations over the theft of a refrigerator.
"He was beaten up and dragged by senior police officers," she said.
An Interior Ministry spokesperson said he had no knowledge of any incident involving Nour.
Nour had been questioned in recent months on allegations of slander initiated by pro-government lawmaker and editor, Mustafa Bakri, who accused Nour of publishing "blasphemous" remarks in Al-Ghad's newspaper.
- AP
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