A fire erupts at headquarters of jailed Egyptian opposition leader
police breifly detained three activists

A pre-dawn fire gutted the headquarters of jailed Egyptian opposition leader Ayman Nour on Thursday, and his supporters blamed the government, accusing it of trying to add to the woes of a man who tried to challenge President Hosni Mubarak in elections.

¶   The fire wrecked the entire first floor of the headquarters and blackened the exterior, but caused no injuries. Police said the blaze was caused by an electrical problem.

¶   But Nour's supporters accused the government, saying they were trying to eliminate one of his last strongholds after his imprisonment.

¶   "They are striking against us and all the opposition on a daily basis now," Gamila Ismail, Nour's wife and a leading member of his Al-Ghad Party, told The Associated Press. "The strike this time is at a place on the grass-roots level, where we had direct contact with the people."

¶   "For the past year, members of the (ruling National Democratic Party)have ... made threats to scare those who go to the building," the Al-Ghad Party said in a statement on the fire. "NDP officials have been demanding almost daily that it be closed.

¶   Nour, 41, was one of the most prominent opposition figures in Egypt and his conviction on forgery charges has brought criticism from the United States, which has pressed its ally President Hosni Mubarak to carry out democratic reforms. Nour says Mubarak's government trumped up the charges to eliminate him from politics.

¶   Even as he faced prosecution on the charges, Nour ran against Mubarak in September elections, placing a distant second. He was convicted and sentenced in December to five years in prison. Last month, a court rejected his appeal, a ruling the United States denounced as a "miscarriage of justice."

¶   In the past month, security forces have cracked down on reform activists, arresting hundreds and beating many as they broke up street demonstrations in recent weeks _ again drawing criticism from Washington.

Last week, police arrested two activists, Mohammed el-Sharkawi and Kareem el-Sha'er, who have said they were beaten and tortured in custody.

¶   On Thursday, police breifly detained three activists when several dozen protesters tried to hold a rally outside the Cairo police station where el-Sharkawi said he was beaten and sexually assaulted. A journalist for the Los Angeles Times, Hossam el-Hamalawy, was also briefly detained after he said police wrestled him to the ground.

¶   Thursday's fire struck the Nour Cultural Center, a foundation created by Nour in 2001 to provide charity in his former parliament constituency, a densely populated neighborhood of Cairo.

¶   The center also served as a political headquarters, where Nour first announced his candidacy for president and where his supporters often hold meetings and rallies. A day before the fire, a rally was held there, and police surrounded the building, harassing some who tried to attend, the Al-Ghad Party said.

¶   On Thursday, uniformed police and plainclothed officers, surrounded the building and barred an AP reporter and photographer inside the building.

They asked reporter for her name and credentials.

¶   "The government burnt it, this is sabotage, not electrical problem," said Gamal Mahmoud Ahmed, a 42-year-old resident of the disrtrict as he stood outside the building.

"This man (Nour) has been subject to a lot
of injustice. I love him, I voted for him."

¶   Nour served in parliament for two terms before losing his seat in elections in November and December, which were marred by widespread violence, fraud allegations and police blockades of polling sites to prevent opposition supporters from voting.

Associated Press