Egypt Jails Opposition Leader for 5 Years

His party split, and Nour accused the defectors of being government stooges. Finally, on Dec. 5, Gomaa ordered Nour back to jail. Egyptian commentators predicted he would be found guilty; in 2002, Gomaa convicted the human rights activist Saad Eddin Ibrahim of defaming Egypt, though the verdict was later overturned.

On Saturday, Ibrahim said of Nour's conviction: "It is a sad day for Egypt and for reform. The Mubarak regime could not stand him, so they fabricated a case against him, reminiscent of my own case."

While he was in jail, Nour went on a hunger strike and was hospitalized. In court on Saturday, he looked pale. Before his supporters entered, almost all the seats in court were occupied by men in dark suits, one of whom said he had come to "see justice served." Outside, riot police holding bamboo rods and rubber truncheons hemmed in about 200 demonstrators who had gathered the night before and were reciting Koranic verses.

When word of the verdict spread, some of the protesters wept, while some men threw stones at the police. An old woman in a veil shouted, "He's innocent!"

Ismael, Nour's wife, emerged from the courthouse, jumped on the back of a pickup truck and called out: "Down with Hosni Mubarak! Long live Egypt! God is greater than any oppressor."

One of Nour's attorneys, Ihab Kholy, told the crowd: "We will not retreat. Hand in hand, we will build tomorrow."

Protesters responded, "Ayman Nour, symbol of freedom against a government of thugs."

The crowd then marched through Cairo's Nasser City district. Police marched behind them. When the crowd neared Heliopolis, site of Mubarak's presidential palace, the police blocked the route. The protesters sang Egypt's national anthem and dispersed.

Such scenes of defiance were unimaginable 18 months ago, when Egypt's democracy movement crept onto the streets of Cairo and small anti-Mubarak demonstrations became weekly events. Nour's contribution was to take advantage of Mubarak's move to open up the presidential election and act as if he had a chance to win. He barnstormed the countryside, even though ruling-party toughs would occasionally stone his entourage or hamper its movements.

Nour's imprisonment has the effect of narrowing opposition candidates' already minuscule chances of running in presidential elections -- either six years from now, if they are held on schedule, or earlier, if Mubarak resigns or dies. Under complex rules set by Mubarak, only parties that hold at least 6 percent of the seats in parliament can field a candidate. Nour's party won only one seat in the recent elections, and other opposition parties also fared badly.

The Muslim Brotherhood surpassed the 6 percent threshold, but its winning candidates ran as independents because the Brotherhood is outlawed and not a recognized political party. Independents can run only if they are approved by councils dominated by Mubarak's party.

Williams reported from Rome.