Ayman Nour, Omar Afifi receive 5-year sentence over spreading false news

Cairo - 27 April 2017: The Cairo Misdemeanor Court sentenced former chairman of Al-Ghad Party, Ayman Nour and former police officer Omar Afifi each to five years in prison Wednesday, and fined each 500 EGP ($27) after they were found guilty of spreading false news, receiving foreign funds and inciting against the state.

Both men were charged in absentia. Nour is based in Turkey and Afifi in Washington.


Nour faces another lawsuit to strip him of his Egyptian citizenship, filed by Lawyer Tarek Mahmoud. Mahmoud claimed Nour owns pro-Muslim Brotherhood TV channel El-Sharq, which broadcasts from Turkey. The lawyer accused Nour and the channel of “glorifying terrorism” and “inciting violence” in Egypt.

Nour ran for president against former President Hosni Mubarak in Egypt’s first multi-candidate presidential elections in 2005, and was jailed shortly afterwards for supposedly forging signatures to found Al-Ghad Party. He was released on health grounds in 2009. He fled Egypt after the 2013 ouster of President Mohamed Morsi, and has since been a fierce critic of President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi and the Egyptian military.

Washington-based dissident Afifi used to be a police officer and fled to the U.S. during Mubarak’s tenure, fearing his opinions would bring down the wrath of former Interior Minister Habib al-Adly. He expresses his analysis of domestic issues and politics over the Internet through his Facebook page, which attracts 157,000 followers.