Ayman Nour: Politician

No one ever challenged an Arab autocrat in the way Ayman Nour has. The 42-year-old M.P. spent years forming the liberal al-Ghad (Tomorrow) party and planning a run against Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. When Mubarak suddenly opened up the field to opposition candidates for the first time in 2005, Nour launched the most spirited presidential campaign in Egyptian history, decrying incompetence and corruption in Mubarak's regime and calling for a new democratic constitution. In the September balloting Nour wound up in second place with a respectable 7.3% of the vote.

Nour's fate spotlights the huge difficulties in creating...

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