Egypt opposition leader gets 5-yr jail term

An Egyptian court sentenced opposition politician and former presidential candidate Ayman Nour on Saturday to five years in jail on forgery ...

An Egyptian court sentenced opposition politician and former presidential candidate Ayman Nour on Saturday to five years in jail on forgery charges, judicial officials said.

Nour, leader of the liberal Ghad Party and the main challenger to President Hosni Mubarak in the September elections, will appeal against the conviction, his lawyer Amir Salim said.

A Ghad Party statement accused the judge, Abdel Salam Gomaa, of discrimination against Nour. It noted the same judge found liberal sociologist and activist Saadeddin Ibrahim guilty in 2002 of damaging Egypt’s reputation abroad.

Nour (41) has been on hunger strike in jail for the past two weeks in protest at the trial, which he says is an attempt to remove him from the political scene. —Reuters

EXCLUSIVE: EC brings in feature to check misuse of identity to seek voter list deletions

Political Pulse44 min ago

The Election Commission has launched a new 'e-sign' feature on its portal and app to prevent fraud. This comes after allegations of misuse of online voter deletion forms in Karnataka. The feature requires voters to verify their identity using their Aadhaar-linked phone numbers, reducing the possibility of fraud.

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