quote:

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(Cairo) A court sentenced leading government opponent Ayman Nour to five years' imprisonment for forgery on Saturday at the end of a year-long judicial process that has drawn international criticism and strained Egypt's relations with the United States.

The guilty verdict provoked uproar from the hundreds of supporters of Nour, the runner-up in this year's presidential elections, in and around the courtroom.

"God is great!" Nour and his wife, Gameela Ismail, shouted immediately. Chief defence counsel Amir Salem cried: "This is a political verdict that will be annulled by the appeal court.

[...]

Nour had pleaded innocent to ordering the forging of signatures to register his Al-Ghad party last year. During the trial, one of his six co-defendants retracted his confession telling the court that security officials had coerced him to make a statement accusing Nour of forgery.

The verdicts of the co-defendants were not heard Saturday as the courtroom erupted in shouts as soon as the judge delivered Nour's conviction and sentence. Judge Abdel Salam Gomaa gave no explanation of his findings and left the court.

Nour finished a distant second to longtime President Mubarak in September's elections, Egypt's first contested presidential race, and lost his parliamentary seat in November's legislative polls. He is appealing the November result, alleging irregularities.

Nour has claimed his trial is an attempt by the state to destroy him politically. His Al-Ghad Party distributed a statement at the court Saturday saying the verdict was "a matter of settling of the accounts of the presidential elections."

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Apparently they advocate a mix of nationalism, left-liberalism, and moderate Islamism...