Wednesday, November 4, 2009 - 9:18 PM
Egyptian opposition politician Ayman Nour said today that state security forces prevented him from flying to the United States. Since finally being released from prison, where he had been placed on trumped-up charges after losing the 2005 Presidential election to Hosni Mubarak, Nour has faced recurrent harassment and abuse. He recently signed on to the broad campaign to oppose Gamal Mubarak's succession to his father's position as President.
The Reuters article mentions that Nour was scheduled to speak at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York. He was also scheduled to speak, at my invitation, here at the Elliott School next Friday (November 13) on the topic of "democracy in Egypt." I certainly hope that the Egyptian authorities change their mind in time to allow him to travel to the United States and share his views on that subject.
Of course one hopes that Mr. Noor, will be able to travel to the US and meet his commitments over there. But I wonder really, what would Mr. Noor be able to tell the Council on Foreign relations in New York, or/ and the Elliott School more than they already know about, the state of democracy and respect of human rights in Egypt, or the lack of them?.
At the same time, one wonders why the Egyptian authorities are refusing him the right to travel?. Are they thinking seriously that, he will be able to tarnish the reputation of the regime in Egypt?. In any case, this is really the logic of security states, which is something that belongs to the disscussion of Prof. Lynch's other posting below.
khairi janbek.paris/france
Ayman Nour is not that popular in Egypt after all! I know he scored some point in last presidential election but in a real free election he will do even worse in the kind of election that include candidate from Muslim brotherhood.
Eygpt Government is losings capital over nothing, not a smart move if you asked me.
Marc Lynch is associate professor of political science and international affairs at George Washington University.
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