Yesterday evening the Presidential Electoral Committee in Egypt decided that ten presidential candidates couldn't run, despite the fact they appealed against an earlier decision. Without  wanting to judge about all individual cases, two candidates have been disqualified for a very strange reason. Khairat Al-Shater and Ayman Nour can't run for president because of fake trials during the Mubarak regime. The Supreme Council of Armed Forces (SCAF) did pardon both persons but appartently not on every charge. 
 
Guy Verhofstadt (ALDE group leader) said: "This looks like the plot of a very bad movie. Two opponents of Mubarak who served many years in jail are now punished for their brave stance. The only reason why Ayman Nour was sentenced in 2005 was the fact that he dared to be presidential candidate against Hosni Mubarak. The verdict of the Electoral Committee smells a lot like the regime of Mubarak. Certainly the case of Ayman Nour indicates that apparently Mubarak still rules Egypt."
 
Edward McMillan-Scott (UK, Lib Dem), Vice President of the European Parliament for Human Rights and democracy added: "The basis for this decision is a wholly fraudulent case brought against Ayman Nour that he had falsified 50 signatures in setting up his party. The process was ridiculous then, and was excoriated by the State Department and by the EU Council. The British Ambassador sat in on the whole fake trial. In 2012 it is even more ridiculous and fatally undermines the presidential election process to come."