Egyptian opposition politician barred from traveling to US

Nov 4, 2009, 13:48 GMT

Cairo - Prominent Egyptian opposition figure Ayman Nour said Wednesday that the Egyptian government was preventing him from traveling to the United States, calling the decision 'unjustified.'

Speaking from his office in downtown Cairo, Nour, who was imprisoned for three years shortly after he ran against Egyptian President Hosny Mubarak in the 2005 elections, told reporters that Egypt's General Prosecutor Abdel-Magid Mahmoud had informed him that he could not travel to the US on November 6, as he had hoped to do.

Nour wanted to take part in a conference on 'the future of Egypt' organised by the Coalition of Egyptian Organisations in the United States, among other events.

Mubarak's son, Gamal, whose 2002 appointment to the head of the ruling National Democratic Party's influential policies secretariat sparked speculation that he was being groomed for the presidency, was scheduled to attend the conference, Nour said.

'Gamal wants to stand alone in the arena inside and outside Egypt. He does not want to be competed,' Nour charged.

Nour said Mahmoud told him that the reason for the injunction was that Nour had been released from prison for health reasons, and so was not allowed to travel.

Calling the decision 'illogical' and 'unjustified,' the former head of the opposition al-Ghad party said that Mahmoud had allowed him to travel to Belgium in April, two months after his release, to address the European Parliament.

Nour served more than three years on charges he falsified signatures in support of his 2005 electoral bid before being released on health grounds.

Nour said that would go to court to get the travel ban lifted. If he did not succeed, he said, he would participate in events abroad through video conference calls.