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Egypt's Nour released from jail Egypt's Nour released from jail
(40 minutes later)
Egyptian authorities have released opposition figure Ayman Nour after three years in jail on what he said were politically motivated charges. Egyptian authorities have released the country's best known opposition figure, Ayman Nour, after three years in jail.
Judiciary officials said Mr Nour, 44, was released on health grounds.
Speaking by telephone from his Cairo home, Mr Nour said he would resume leadership of his Ghad (Tomorrow) party and rejoin political life.
Mr Nour came a distant second in Egypt's first contested presidential poll in 2005 but was jailed for alleged election fraud in the following months.
The US, Egypt's close ally and major aid donor, took great interest in the Nour case and described his conviction as a miscarriage of justice.The US, Egypt's close ally and major aid donor, took great interest in the Nour case and described his conviction as a miscarriage of justice.
Mr Nour came a distant second to Hosni Mubarak in Egypt's first contested presidential election in 2005. The 44-year-old lawyer is known to suffer from diabetes and is dependent on insulin injections.
The following year he was jailed for five years for electoral forgery. Speaking to reporters by telephone from his home, Mr Nour thanked God that he had been released.
Judiciary officials said Mr Nour had been released on health grounds. The 44-year-old lawyer is known to suffer from diabetes.
Speaking to reporters by telephone from his home, Mr Nour said he would resume his political career at the head of the opposition party which he founded, the Ghad, or Tomorrow Party.
"Thanks to God I am released," he said.
"I am going to practise my role as a politician through the Ghad party and through my previous role," he added."I am going to practise my role as a politician through the Ghad party and through my previous role," he added.
Election allegations
Mr Nour formed his political party in 2004 with a view to contesting the presidential election the following year, run as a multi-candidate affair for the first time after US put pressure on Egypt to introduce democratic reforms.
He came a distant second in the poll, which he claimed was rigged, winning 8% of the vote against the 89% polled by the incumbent Hosni Mubarak.
Three months after elections, Mr Nour was charged with forging signatures to register his party and jailed for five years.
Analysts at the time said the speed with which Ayman Nour was stripped of parliamentary immunity and brought to trial suggested the government did underestimate the political threat he posed.
The government of Mr Mubarak, who has ruled without interruption since 1981, and the judiciary have dismissed allegations that the trial was politically motivated.
Washington had repeatedly called for his release, although correspondents say US criticism of the case has died off in recent months, having been a cause of heightened tension in the past.