[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 163 (Wednesday, November 4, 2009)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E2709-E2710]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




FORMER EGYPTIAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE DR. AYMAN NOUR DENIED TRAVEL TO 
                                  U.S.

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. FRANK R. WOLF

                              of virginia

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, November 4, 2009

  Mr. WOLF. Madam Speaker, I would like to bring to the attention of my 
colleagues the following statement released by former Egyptian 
presidential candidate and political prisoner Dr. Ayman Nour who was 
restricted from traveling to the United States by Egyptian authorities.

       On November 3, 2009, the Egyptian public prosecutor issued 
     an administrative decision preventing me from traveling to 
     the U.S. and to other countries in the Middle East and 
     Europe. My visit to the U.S. was scheduled for November 6, 
     2009.
       The decision by the public prosecutor came as a shock, and 
     is unjustified, especially in light of the recent permit I 
     was granted for a visit to the European Parliament in April 
     2009. During that visit, I met with various European leaders 
     and underwent substantial medical examinations. I was forced 
     to postpone other necessary physical examinations because I 
     could not obtain a visa for the UK from Belgium.
       The public prosecutor's decision conflicts with Egyptian 
     Constitution, Article 52, which stipulates that, ``it is not 
     acceptable to prohibit a citizen from staying somewhere or to 
     be forced to stay somewhere.'' Article 52 states that 
     ``citizens have the right to permanent or temporary 
     immigration abroad.'' Adding to this is the absence of 
     objective reasons given by the authorities that would have 
     prevented me from practicing my right. In other words, there 
     is no probability that I will escape while I am abroad, and I 
     do not owe money to any entity, which means that restricting 
     is uncalled for and unnecessary. The double standard in my 
     case is evident in the fact that the public prosecutor 
     permitted others with real legal obstacles, similar to those 
     described above to travel abroad in the past.
       The public prosecutor justified his politically motivated 
     restriction by referring to the fact that I was released from 
     prison on February 18, 2009 for medical reasons, while my 
     official release date had been set for July 22, 2009. This 
     decision was based on claim 12886/63Q dated April 21, 2009, 
     which allowed me to obtain an automatic curtailment of my 
     sentence according to Article 86 of Prisons Bylaw 79/1961. 
     The fact that I was granted an exit permit on March 15, 2009 
     for my Europe visit mentioned above, is further indication 
     that the current travel restriction is unwarranted.
       I would like to present the following facts:
       (1) The public prosecutor's decision is only one example in 
     a series of aggression, abuses, and insistence of the 
     political regime to deprive me of my basic human rights, 
     including the following:
       a. The right to work and earn a living as an attorney. The 
     temporary governmental committee which ran the Association 
     Bar canceled my membership in April 2009. I was the only 
     individual to receive this cancellation despite the fact that 
     there were dozen of similar cases.

[[Page E2710]]

       b. The right to sell my assets. The notary public offices 
     were instructed to prevent me from registering any contracts 
     unless I provide documents proving my release. To date I have 
     been unsuccessful in obtaining a legal declaration of my 
     release from any governmental authority. Likewise, they 
     subsequently prevented me from opening a bank account. These 
     restrictions not only affect my professional life, but 
     intrude upon my personal life, including the ability to 
     sustain my family and to seek the necessary medical attention 
     I require after incurring serious injuries during my four 
     years in prison.
       c. The right to healthcare coverage. As a registered 
     journalist, I should enjoy the benefit of health insurance 
     coverage through the Supreme Council of Journalism and Press 
     Syndicate. This has also been restricted to me, as the 
     syndicate was instructed to freeze my salary and prevent me 
     from my legal right to receive medical treatment.
       d. The right to appear in court to claim my civil rights. I 
     have been prevented from appearing before several courts to 
     make any claims for my basic civil rights.
       e. The right to file claims of defamation. The public 
     prosecutor prevented me from filing the claims of defamation 
     to the criminal court. I subsequently published these claims 
     in the media. More than two thousand of these claims have 
     been frozen, which encourages more illegal moral attacks 
     against me.
       f. The right to re-open my case in light of new evidence 
     proving my innocence. The public prosecutor has failed to 
     grant my request to review my claim in light of the newly 
     acquired evidence of my innocence. This evidence would serve 
     to acquit me from the original verdict by the Court of 
     Administrative Justice, which took criminal proceedings 
     against me on January 29, 2005.
       g. The right to speak to the state-owned media. I am 
     currently restricted from responding to claims broadcast 
     against me in the state-owned media. The public prosecutor 
     did not consider my claims to respond to the claims against 
     me in the state-owned media.
       h. The right to establish an NGO or join any social 
     organization or group. At the instruction of the State 
     Security forces, I have been deprived from establishing any 
     nongovernmental organization or from joining any social or 
     sport clubs. They threatened one of the clubs that granted me 
     an honorary membership and forced them to remove me.
       i. The right to privacy. I am monitored at all hours of the 
     day by government security forces. Recently, I have embarked 
     on a ``knock-on-the-door'' campaign to meet citizens 
     throughout Egypt. During these events, government security 
     personnel followed me continuously. In addition, my phone 
     calls remain illegally tapped.
       j. The right to actively participate in politics. I have 
     been restricted from practicing my political and partisan 
     rights. This decision is being held up by an outdated 1937 
     Supreme Constitutional Court ruling, which subsequently has 
     been discontinued by newer rulings from the same court which 
     provides persons in my similar situation to receive the right 
     to participate in politics, even after serving prison time.
       It is evident to the public that such abuses arose in 
     response to my political stances in an attempt to control my 
     political and personal life. The authorities claim they are 
     doing right by me in releasing me for health reasons on 
     February 18, 2009, only very few months before the legal 
     release. It is plain to see that this early release is in 
     line with their goal of suffocating me politically and 
     depriving me of my basic human rights.
       (2) Regarding my trip to the U.S. and other countries, the 
     following facts should be stated:
       a. I received an invitation from the Coalition of Egyptian 
     Organizations in the U.S. to speak to Egyptians and Egyptian 
     Americans living in various states. The same coalition 
     invited Gamal Mubarak, Omar Suliman, Amr Mousa, Ahmed 
     Zweil, Mohamed Elbaradie, and a number of other public 
     figures.
       b. The aforementioned invitation met my earnest desire to 
     meet with Egyptian communities abroad and to discuss their 
     problems and issues of interest. I also received some other 
     invitations from other organizations and entities including 
     the following:
       Council on Foreign Relations, National Endowment for 
     Democracy, various think tanks, American universities, U.S. 
     congressmen and political figures, Egyptian communities in 
     three major states, U.S. media representatives.
       c. The invitations do not include any meetings with 
     representatives of the U.S. Administration. I have already 
     announced that the main purpose of my visit is not to conduct 
     high-profile meetings. I plan to focus solely on meetings 
     with the Egyptian and American citizens and U.S. public 
     representatives. This visit was motivated by my belief in 
     communicating with the global community to advocate our 
     political and partisan views. Other political figures from 
     Egypt made similar visits recently, including Gamal Mubarak, 
     who visited the U.S. several times, and Chief of Parliament, 
     Fathi Sorour, who is set to meet today with Egyptians in the 
     U.S.; the same day I received the government decision 
     preventing my travel plans.
       d. My request for travel was submitted to the public 
     prosecutor three months ago, to which I received no response. 
     I subsequently re-submitted the same request several times 
     until he finally got back to me with demands for more details 
     about the invitations I received from the U.S., as well as 
     information about the medical examinations I plan on 
     undergoing. After several back-and-forth messages dealing 
     with requests for translation of documents' authenticity and 
     such, it was clear that the public prosecutor was insisting 
     on delaying procedures. This situation concluded with a 
     negative response today in answer to my 3-month long request 
     for travel permission.
       In conclusion, we would like to thank the various 
     organizations and groups which invited me to visit the U.S. 
     Because of the unfortunate decision by the Egyptian public 
     prosecutor, I am forced to remain in the country at this 
     time. I will continue with my plan to address the Egyptian 
     and American community via video conference. I would like to 
     thank in particular the Coalition of Egyptian Organizations 
     in the U.S. and its leaders, among which include: Cameel 
     Halim, Saad Eddin Ibrahim, Dina Guirgus, and Omar Afifi, all 
     who exerted tremendous effort to organize the proposed events 
     in the U.S. and worked closely with colleagues here in Cairo 
     to make the necessary arrangements for my potential visit to 
     the U.S.
       The Egyptian public prosecutor's decision to prevent me 
     from traveling abroad compels us to work even more fervently 
     overcoming the legal obstacles we face. We are not canceling 
     the visit to the U.S., but consider this only a postponement 
     for another date, which we are tentatively scheduling for 
     2010.
       We call upon the Egyptian and international community, as 
     well as to human rights organizations worldwide to condemn 
     the aforementioned abuses, which are an assassination to my 
     civil rights and human rights, and are more painful and 
     damaging than the physical suffering I yet experience. My 
     treatment in Egypt is in direct contradiction to the 
     international conventions signed by Egypt, most importantly, 
     the Universal Declaration on Human Rights and International 
     Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
       We assert that insistence on violating our rights will 
     increase our belief in the right of Egyptians to democratic 
     and nonviolent reform. We will work diligently on putting an 
     end to the unjust and unacceptable situation of civil and 
     human rights in Egypt. We will continue to fight against the 
     inheritance of our country to despotic rule, and against the 
     deprivation of our people from practicing their rights.

                          ____________________