Ari and Ayman Nour
Who is Ayman Nour? What did he fight for?
an Egyptian politician who was emprisoned by the government of President Hosni Mubarak in January 2005 on political grounds.
He was the chairman of El Ghad Party, a party created to represent a liberal democratic perspective, with a strong interest in human rights issues. Nour used the party as a platform to call for constitutional reform, limiting the president's powers and opening presidential elections to multiple candidates.
Nour was stripped of his parliamentary immunity and arrested on
Nour was stripped of his parliamentary immunity and arrested on. He was charged with forging PAs (Powers of Attorney) to secure the formation of the el-Ghad party. Nour vehemently denied the charges (from prison). The arrest, occurring in an election year, was widely criticized by governments around the world as a step backwards for Egyptian democracy.
Condoleezza Rice postponed a visit to Egypt, reflecting U.S. displeasure at the jailing of Nour
Condoleezza Rice postponed a visit to Egypt, reflecting U.S. displeasure at the jailing of Nour, who was reported to have been brutally interrogated.
Nour was freed and began a campaign for the Egyptian presidency
Gollowing a strong intervention in Cairo by a group of Members of the European Parliament led by Vice-President Edward McMillan-Scott (UK, Conservative), Nour was freed and began a campaign for the Egyptian presidency.
He was sentenced to five years in jail
He was sentenced to five years in jail. Though diabetic, Nour engaged in a two-week long hunger strike to protest his trial.
Intervention of Ari Vatanen in the plenary session
Ari Vatanen makes an intervention in Strasbourg's plenary session to support Ayman Nour:
Intervention of Ari Vatanen in the plenary session 6 April 2006
Egypt: the case of Ayman Nour (debate)
Ari Vatanen first proposes in French an amendment to the Parliament's resolution calling for the release of Ayman Nour. (The amendment is later adopted in the vote.) He then makes a short speak on behalf of Dr Nour:
– Monsieur le Président, je voudrais présenter un amendement oral afin d'insérer un nouveau paragraphe 5 bis. Le texte en est le suivant: "demande la libération du docteur Ayman Nour".
Mr President, this morning we had the Belarusian opposition leader, Mr Milinkevich, here. He is free, but Ayman Nour is not free, although the two men are in a similar position in their respective countries. Mr Milinkevich said that when he went to an election debate, he had to take his own drinking water with him. Well, every human being has an in-built aspiration to drink the clean water of democracy; what Mr Milinkevich is doing in Belarus, Ayman Nour is trying to do in Egypt. He tries to give Egyptian people hope. He wants to give hope to those people who believe in a free tomorrow.
Egypt plays a crucial part, in many ways, in the Middle East. If it does not show the way to democratisation for the rest of that region, its future will be condemned in advance. Egypt plays an important part in terms of its relationship with the United States and its constructive approach to Israel, but if its relationship with the EU is to deepen, Egypt must take steps towards democracy. Egyptian people deserve democracy.
Why is Ayman Nour in prison? He is there because of flimsy charges; he is detained for nothing; he is detained because he dared to stand against President Mubarak. If we want democracy to blossom in Egypt, we must ensure that Dr Ayman Nour is freed. If he is freed, that will also free the democratic forces in that part of the world, which is also an issue concerning future stability in that part of the world.
Ari Vatanen requests to introduce a mention on the release of Ayman Nour
Ari Vatanen requests to introduce a mention on the release of Ayman Nour in a European Parliament's resolution on the situation in Egypt (OJ: http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:C:2006:293E:0256:0257:EN:PDF)
Press Release
Vatanen: Time to Release Egyptian Opposition Leader Ayman Nour
On Thursday 20th April the European Parliament held a public hearing on democracy in the Arab world. MEP Ari Vatanen (EPP-ED, France/Finland) comments: "As the European Parliament holds a hearing to discuss elections and political pluralism, we must not forget the plight of Dr Ayman Nour who sits in prison, where he was thrown for purely political reasons for daring to challenge the current regime in last autumn's presidential elections. Since Egypt is the biggest Arab state, helping it become democratic could start a very long-awaited process of democratization in the region. Therefore the fate of Dr Nour is of very wide importance."
"On the 6th of April the European Parliament approved a resolution demanding the release of Dr Nour. In addition Ari Vatanen has asked his colleagues to support a transatlantic petition (see below) for the release of Ayman Nour. The same is going on in the US Senate and Congress where the dead-line has been set to the 25th April 2006."
Dr Ayman Nour, Egyptian leader of al Ghad (Tomorrow) party is currently imprisoned on trumped-up charges concerning the registration of his opposition party and sentenced to five years in jail. Dr Ayman Nour is a prominent figure in the Egyptian civil opposition movement. In the last presidential election, he ran against President Mubarak and came in second. He was thrown in prison by the Egyptian government immediately after the elections.
Dr. Nour’s appeal has been decided to be viewed by the cassation court on May 18th. This means that either the court will accept the appeal and acquit him or accept the appeal and send him to another trial or unfortunately reject the appeal. The judge who was chosen to head this tribunal is the same judge that was chosen to question the Egyptian judges who testified against the government and confirmed forgery of elections process last November.
A high-level transatlantic cooperation among legislators would be a key factor in keeping the issue on the agenda and help Egypt towards democracy.
We urge to continue to pressure the Egyptian government to release Ayman Nour and cease the persecution of Egyptian advocates of democracy and reform.
Press Release
Vatanen: "Egyptian democracy at a crossroad, liberation of Ayman Nour key to progress"
Petition to free Ayman Nour
We the undersigned
Members of the European Parliament,
Members of the Congress of the United States and
Members of the Senate of the United States
Call upon the Egyptian government to FREE AYMAN NOUR.
Dr. Nour, the leader of the Al-Ghad party, was arrested and tried for defending democracy, freedom and political pluralism: the international values that we stand for.
Ayman Nour, born in 1964 in Al-Mansoura, founded and leads the new liberal and democratic party Al-Ghad (the Party of Tomorrow), which stands for democracy, human and political rights.
For the last few years, he and his party members were harassed and intimidated by the Egyptian authorities. This persecution culminated in his arrest and trial, in which he was sentenced for five years in jail.
This is a deliberate attack on his political, human and civil rights. Furthermore it is an attack on the nascent initiative to free a political life in Egypt to move towards democracy and pluralism.
The Egyptian government has a long history of censoring political speech and imprisoning, on what are frequently claimed to be false charges, those who express opposition to President Mubarak's regime.
In many cases, members of the judiciary appear to closely endorse the government's goals. The judge who sentenced Dr. Nour to five years imprisonment, Adel Abdel Salam Gom'a, is the same judge who previously sentenced Saad Eddin Ibrahim, the prominent democracy and human rights activist, to prison on similar charges.
We urge to continue to pressure the Egyptian government to release Ayman Nour and cease the persecution of Egyptian advocates of democracy and reform.
MEPs Signatures
1 - Ari Vatanen, Member of the EP, Foreign Affairs Committee, Finland
2 - Graham Watson, Member of the EP, Leader of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe in the European Parliament, United Kingdom
3 - Emma Bonino, Member of the EP, Partito Radicale, Italy
4 - Hokmark Gunnar, Member of the EP, Group of the European People's Party (Christian Democrats) and European Democrats, Sweden
5 - Napoletano Pasqualina, Member of the EP, Vice President of the Socialist group at the EP, Italy
6 - Jana Hybaskova, Member of the EP, Group of the Popular Party, Czech Republic
7 - Geremek Bronislaw, Member of the EP, Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe, Poland
8 - Malmström Cecilia, Member of the EP, Sweden
9 - Wijkman Anders, Member of the EP, Sweden
10 - Marco Pannella, Member of the EP, Partito Radicale, Italy
11 - Samuelsen Anders, Member of the EP, Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe, Denmark
12 - Lilli Gruber, Member of the EP, Italy
13 - Van Den Berg Max, Member of the EP,
14 - Baroness Sarah Ludford, Member of the EP, Liberal Democrat, London, United Kingdom
15 - Mc Millian Scott Edward, Member of the EP
16 - Simon Coveney, Member of the EP
17 - Richard Corbett, Member of the EP for Yorshire and the Humber, United Kingdom
18 - Doyle Avril, Member of the EP
19 - Erna Hennicot Schoepges, Member of the EP
20 - Marc Tarabella, Member of the EP
21 - Piia Noora Kauppi, Member of the EP, Head of the Finnish EPP-ED delegation, Finland
22 - Alain Lamassoure, Member of the EP, France
23 - André Brie, Member of the EP, Germany
24 - Konrad Szymanski, Member of the EP
25 - Mr Cem Özdemir, Member of the EP, The Greens/EFA Group
26 - Claude Moraes, Member of the EP
27 - Albert Jan Maat, Member of the EP
28 - Girts Valdis Kristovskis, Member of the EP, Latvia
29 - Anders Wijkman, Group of the European People's Party (Christian Democrats) and European Democrats Member. Sweden
30 - Satu Hassi, Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance Member, Finland
31 - Wojciech Roszkowski, Union for Europe of the Nations Group, Poland
32 - Jules Maaten, Group of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe, Netherlands
33 - Baroness Emma Nicholson of Winterbourne, Group of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe, United Kingdom
34 - Liz Lynne, Group of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe, United Kingdom
35 - Gérard Deprez, Group of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Member, Belgium
36 - Carnero Gonzales Carlos, PSE, MEP, Spain
37 - Catherine Stihler, MEP for Scotland
38 - Fausto Correia, MEP, Socialist Party, Portugal
Letter From 6 MEPs To President Mubarak For Immediate Release Of Ayman Nour
Letter to Mubarak
His Excellency Hosni Mubarak
President of the Arab Republic of Egypt
Abdin Palace Cairo, Egypt
17th of May 2006
Your Excellency:
The 2005 presidential elections in Egypt were welcomed by the international community as a great achievement for reforms in the whole MENA region. The European Parliament believes that your initiative to call on the People’s Assembly to amend Article 76 of the Constitution, thereby permitting contested direct elections for the presidency, is in accordance with your stated goal of advancing democracy in Egypt.
However, the persistence of violations of basic rights and freedoms of Egyptian citizens calls into question which direction the democratic process in Egypt is taking. Moreover, the detention of Al-Ghad leader, Ayman Nour, on questionable charges of having forged documents when applying for legal registration of the Al-Ghad Party last year, raises further concerns among the international community about human and civil rights. As much as Europe and the USA wish to deepen their relationship with your country, the recent events may well imperil it. That, in turn, could regrettably lead to increased isolation and strengthening of extremist currents.
As the Egyptian civil society is willing to move towards a democratic process, that you, Mr. President, admirably started, the European Parliament appeals1 to the immediate release of Dr Ayman Nour, as well as journalists and judges taken into custody. The European Parliament is therefore looking forward to Dr Nour’s appeal on the 18th of May to see a fair and just trial and to his final release.
Sincere and respectful regards,
Ari Vatanen
Elmar Brok
Bronislaw Geremek
Alain Lamassoure
Edward McMillan-Scott
Graham Watson
Members of the European Parliament
CC. Javier Solana High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy, Secretary
General of the Council of the European Union
Benita Ferrero-Waldner Member of the European Commission in charge of External Relations
December 2008
19 December 2008 Ari Vatanen in Egypt sends sms to Gameela that he will visit Ayman in jail.
Bonjour Gameela! We are having cafe at Sphinx, all is very good! Our flighton 25/12 is 15.15h so it's possible to see Ayman! A bientôt!
Ari and family
25 December 2008 Ari Vatanen attempts to meet Ayman Nour but is not let inside the cell.
Letter of Ari Vatanen to French President Nicolas Sarkozy
Letter of Ari Vatanen to French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Ayman Nour and the situation in Egypt.
February 2009
18 February 2009 Ayman was released on health grounds.
19 February 2009 Ari Vatanen writes sms to Gameela:
FANTASTIC GAMEELA - I just saw the news in TV!! I try to imagine how happy you are!! So are we because Ayman's release gives strength and hope to all who believe that better world can be built. My family shares your happiness.
Ari and Rita + children
24 February 2009 Ari Vatanen writes sms to Gameela:
Dear Gameela, we wonder if you yet believe it's all true! Hug Ayman and you sons very hard for us. Our family is so happy for you and Egyptian people!
Amicalement Ari & Rita
PS: I wrote to Sarkozy about the release of Ayman. I do not know if it helped at all but only today's situation matters!
April 2009
14 April 2009 Email from Gameela, Ayman's former wife, to all those who helped pushing for his release.
Dear Friend,
I take the opportunity of the coming Easter holidays to send my greetings and extend my deepest thanks and gratitude for every support and assistance you have extended to me and my family during the struggle to release my husband in the last four years. It is true that we have separated recently, but I will always owe you the noble stand you took to fight for his release. May God protect you, your family and all your beloved ones from injustice and oppression.
Regards, Gameela Ismail
15 April 2009 MEPs who have supported Ayman Nour meet him in Brussels.
30 April 2009 Ari Vatanen meets Ayman Nour during his visit at the European Parliament.
Design by
