more us double standards

Washington's outrage over Nour's sentence rings hollow
By Linda S. Heard, Special to Gulf News
12/27/2005 12:00 AM (UAE)

Leader of Egypt's Al Ghad Party Ayman Nour was sentenced to five years for forgery last Saturday, which the Bush administration apparently finds "deeply troubling".

"The conviction of Mr Nour, the runner-up in Egypt's 2005 presidential elections, calls into question Egypt's commitment to democracy, freedom and the rule law," reads a White House statement.

These fine sentiments, echoed by human rights groups, are to be commended, and if they emanated, say, from Sweden, the tone of this column would be congratulatory, as it generally believed that Nour's trial was nothing little than a piece of political theatre.

However, in light of recent revelations concerning the US government's human rights abuses, the statement smacks of the pot calling the kettle black.

Moreover, within Egypt, suspicions are already aroused concerning Nour's US affiliations after the US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice cancelled a planned visit to the country to protest the politician's earlier incarceration on the same charge.

Thus, it could be said that the White House doth protest too much, which does little to add to Nour's political credibility in a country where US interference is generally considered unwelcome and where Nour has already been criticised for his regular cozy tête-à -têtes with the US ambassador.

Double standards

The American message is yet another example of its blatant double standards at a time when the democratic process in Iraq, which it oversees, is coming under heavy criticism.

Although the December 15 Iraqi ballot was touted by the US President as being a watershed moment in the country's political life, it has turned out to be nothing of the sort.

Amid claims of massive vote rigging, Sunni and secular Shiite/Sunni coalition parties are threatening to boycott parliament and hinting at an imminent all out civil war unless there is a re-run.

But when it comes to this crucial issue, the only message coming out of the White House is the sound of silence.

So while the US is going out of its way not to poke its nose into Iraq's democratic process superficially and publicly that is it has no such compunction when it comes to Egypt's elections and judicial decisions.

Perhaps the US believes the $2 billion it doles out to Egypt each year in aid buys it the right to comment on its internal affairs, in which case Egypt would be better off seeking aid elsewhere.

"We are also disturbed by reports that Mr Nour's health has seriously declined due to the hunger strike on which he has embarked in protest of the conditions of his trial and detention", continues the White House statement.

Here, one can only wonder at America's sheer chutzpah at a time when it has kept one of its own Jose Padilla in a naval brig for years without charge, is being accused of rendering detainees to countries known to practice torture and particularly when it refers to the mass hunger strike underway at Guantanamo as "a voluntary fast".

Yes, that's right. Ayman Nour is on "hunger strike" but inmates of America's gulag are on a "voluntary fast".

The problem is these voluntary fasters are being force fed via a tube through their noses without anaesthetic.

Many of the Guantanamo "fasters" have refrained from eating for over a month, while Nour's "hunger strike" has lasted little more than 10 days, yet the White House is "disturbed" concerning the Egyptian politician's human rights but seemingly cares not a jot about those in its own care.

Emaciated and bruised

Another example of US double speak is its refusal to hand over Iraqi prisons to the Iraqi government's supervision, ostensibly because Iraqis cannot be trusted to refrain from abusing prisoners after several hundred were found emaciated and bruised within the Ministry of Interior.

Such care and concern on the part of the US would be admirable if we weren't already aware of its military's documented physical and sexual abuses of detainees in Afghanistan's Bagram prison and Iraq's Abu Ghraib, as well as the American vice-president's recent attempts, albeit failed, to legitimise cruel and inhumane treatment.

Returning to Ayman Nour, the US should mind its own business. Egypt has its own way of doing things and the likelihood is that Nour's sentencing will be overthrown by an appellant court.

The trial's detractors are already highlighting the fact that the sentencing judge Abdul Salaam Goma'a was the same individual who earlier came down hard on the political activist Sa'ad Al Din Ebrahim for smearing Egypt's reputation abroad, while the Egyptian Bar Association has vehemently decried the ruling.

At the end of the day, Goma'a's harsh sentencing hasn't done the Egyptian government any favours.

The US has referred to Nour as an electoral "runner up". This is true on paper but the fact is the banned Muslim Brotherhood, whose members are forced to run as independents, are far more of a threat to the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) than Nour's Al Ghad could ever claim to be.

Nour is a far less popular figure in Egypt than the US would like to believe, managing to garner a mere seven per cent of the popular vote.

Chances are that if he had been allowed to stroll out of the court on Saturday and into the sunset, he would have eventually faded from view.

On the other hand, Nour's five-year sentence only serves to raise his profile as a martyr for the democratic cause and is destined to attract future sympathy votes.

Hosni Mubarak still has the opportunity to show magnanimity in victory great PR for his party - and shut the door on US intervention by offering Nour a pardon.

This is a perfect opportunity for Egypt to show the so-called civilised world how it should be done. Let's hope it takes it.