JUNE 06 Newsletter

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Free Ayman Nour!

The following is an excerpt of a letter sent from Ayman Nour from prison to members of Parliament, urging them to release him. The full letter can be found at: http://www.leadership-council.org/news/2006/June/NourLetter.html

First: The Egyptian Peoples Assembly should issue a law to pardon me irrespective of the text of Article 149 of the Egyptian Constitution. Or the President—who has many means and health justifications with which to pardon me, especially given that I am ill with diabetes, heart disease, arterial disease, and high blood pressure—should do so; pressure should be exerted to have this done immediately, because after nearly 6 months in prison I am feeling death approaching at every moment and one month ago, instructions were issued to treat me with harshness and violence. This has caused me to sustain injuries, and the General Deputy has refused to send a doctor to substantiate them!! I have also been denied my right to write, express myself, and to exchange papers with my lawyer and my family since the case has been heard on the 18th of last May, for a period of more than two months, despite this conflicting with Article 47 of the Egyptian constitution, and also with Article 61 of the Prisons Law issued in the year 1956.

Second: Attempt to visit me in prison in order to be aware of what I am being exposed to in terms of violations [of my rights] ...

Third: In the event that the issuance of a parliamentery decision to pardon is unsuccessful before next September, I would like you to please attend the conference which will be held in Cairo, in order to stand in solidarity with me on the occasion of one year having passed since the presidential elections, and one year [also] having passed since my unjust imprisonment. In addition, bring anyone to the conference whose presence you see as positive, be they are members of Parliament or people concerned with human rights and prisoners of conscience.

Fourth: Show solidarity with the liberal Tomorrow Party, which after my imprisonment has been subjected to a sabotage operation through the detention of a large number of its young members due to their solidarity with me and the with the judges. It has also been subjected to a conspiracy to try to void its license and put its newspaper out of commission, after the government has allowed some elements subordinate to it to publish a newspaper without a license under the same name.