Tomorrow's turbulence

Mona El-Nahhas watched the fireworks as Ghad Party Chairman Ayman Nour's trial resumed

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Nour in the caged dock

In an unexpected move, Ghad Party Chairman Ayman Nour -- who placed second to President Hosni Mubarak in the recent presidential elections -- contested the competence of the court assigned to try him on charges of forging his party's membership applications. Nour demanded to be retried by another court.

According to Nour's lawyer Amir Salem, the defense was not given access to the documents on which the case is built. The documents in question are still in the custody of state security prosecution authorities. On Sunday, and during another hearing, the defence asked the judges to allow them to see the documents and to grant an adjournment for that purpose. The court set a new trial date for Monday without commenting on the document issue.

Nour's defense also had a problem with the heavy security presence in the courtroom, seeing it as a major obstacle in the way of a fair trial.

During Monday's session, Nour was allowed to leave the caged dock and stand before the court panel. "It would have been better for me to be in prison instead of being humiliated in this manner during each hearing session," Nour told the court.

Several other defendants are standing trial with Nour. Their lawyer, Abdel-Hai Khallaf, described Nour's move as "theatrical", and said that his clients were satisfied with the court they were being tried in. Abdel-Hai has previously labeled Nour as a "major forger".

Nour has described the case against him as state- fabricated, mainly aimed at ruining his political career.

Judge Abdel-Salam Gomaa, after adjourning the proceedings for nearly three hours on Monday, ordered Nour to inform the court on Tuesday of the legal measures he was taking in connection with his request. On Tuesday, the court decided to postpone the case until the Cairo Court of Appeals considers Nour's request on 8 October.

According to lawyer Montasser El-Zayyat, who monitored Monday's session in his capacity as rapporteur of the Bar Association's Freedom Committee, any suspect has a legal right to ask for a replacement of the panel hearing his case, if there are legitimate doubts regarding its neutrality. The request is to be submitted to the head of the court in question (the Cairo Criminal Court in Nour's case), who will then refer it the Court of Appeals. If it is turned down, the defendant also has the right to contest that decision.

On Tuesday, Nour -- a member of parliament -- only headed to the court after attending President Mubarak's taking the presidential oath at the People's Assembly. Asked by reporters on Monday whether he would congratulate the president, Nour said, "congratulate him for what?" Nour -- who got 7.6 per cent of the vote in comparison to Mubarak's 88 per cent -- has accused the state of rigging the elections.

A fierce campaign was soon after launched against Nour, according to his wife, TV announcer Gamila Ismail. "They started to get him involved in another damaging bribery case.

"Anyway, this is the price we have to pay for abiding by our patriotic principles", Ismail told reporters.

Last Thursday, Nour found himself embroiled in yet another criminal case, when he was questioned in the Nile Delta town of Benha about allegations that Ayman Barakat -- a lawyer working in Nour's office -- had paid a man to serve jail time for someone else. Barakat reportedly paid Ashraf Mansour LE15,000 to impersonate Waleed El-Gilda, who was sentenced to six months of jail time for forging documents from the chamber of commerce of an Arab state.

Mansour told investigators that Barakat paid him in Nour's office, and in Nour's presence, and that the two had forced him to sign papers proving that he had received the money. Nour denied having ever paid, or even met, Mansour in the first place.

"Besides fabricating cases, attempts to infiltrate the party and weaken it did not stop, especially with the coming of parliamentary polls", Ismail said.

Last week, a group headed by party leaders Moussa Mustafa Moussa, Ragab Helal Hemeida, Ibrahim Saleh and Mursi El-Sheikh made an outright challenge to Nour's leadership, submitting a memorandum to Safwat El-Sherif, in his capacity as head of the government-affiliated Political Parties Committee, asking for Nour's dismissal.

Nour presented the committee with a counter- memorandum claiming the dissidents do not represent the party because its council of sages had previously dismissed them.

El-Sherif announced that the committee would not interfere in the power struggle, leaving it to party members to settle the issue themselves.

Nour then convened the party's general assembly, who unanimously renewed their confidence in him. Whether or not the power struggle at the one-year-old party will go on is unknown at present, as both Moussa and Hemeida continue to claim that their battle will continue . In a surprise move, however, Hemeida attended Monday's court session to back his "dearest brother and friend," he said.

Hemeida told Al-Ahram Weekly that any political disputes he may have with Nour should not prevent him from backing someone who "is 100 per cent innocent and will be released very soon." Just last week, Hemeida had accused Nour of forgery, and of being an American agent.

The flip-flop has convinced many observers that some sort of secret deal has taken place between Nour and the party rebels. Sources close to the party revealed that the two camps have held several recent meetings in an attempt to reach a compromise that would restore the party's unity at such a critical juncture.