By Mariam Fam
Cairo - Despite criticism from the United States, police beat pro-reform protesters in the streets and arrested more than 300 for the second week in a row as Egyptian courts dealt new setbacks to activists seeking greater democracy.
While club-wielding police chased activists in downtown Cairo on Thursday, a court rejected the appeal of prominent opposition leader Ayman Nour, the runner-up in last year's presidential elections. The ruling means Nour will have to serve a five-year prison sentence on forgery charges he says are intended to eliminate him from politics.
The United States sharply criticised the ruling, saying it and the violence "raise serious concerns about the path to political reform in Egypt".
"The Egyptian government's handling of (Nour's) case represents both a miscarriage of justice by international standards and a setback for the democratic aspirations of the Egyptian people," State Department spokesperson Sean McCormack said.
Also Thursday, another court issued a reprimand against Hesham el-Bastawisy, a judge on Egypt's highest court who went public with accusations of fraud during parliament elections monitored by judges in November and December. A second judge was cleared by the disciplinary court.
The day's events were a new blow to already fading US hopes that Egypt, a top ally, could be the centrepiece of America's push for greater democracy in the Middle East.
For Egypt's reform movement, the violence and court rulings only fuelled their belief President Hosni Mubarak had reneged on promises of democracy.
"This is a punishment to every judge who has demanded free and fair elections," one pro-reform judge, Ahmed Mekky, said after the ruling on El-Bastawisi. The demand for an independent judiciary "has now become hard to realise contrary to all the political promises that were made", he said.
The prosecution of Nour has strained relations with the United States in the past, and Washington called for his case to be reconsidered after he was convicted in December.
US officials also sharply criticised Egypt after police broke up similar protests last week in support of the judges, arresting more than 250 people.
On Thursday, police in anti-riot gear cordoned off several streets in downtown Cairo leading to the building where the two court sessions were being held separately.
Uniformed police and plainclothes security officers surged into groups of demonstrators, swinging batons. The activists - who included members of the pro-reform Kifaya movement and the Muslim Brotherhood - fled, some clambering over cars.
Some regrouped nearby, shaking their fists and chanting, "We are the (Muslim) Brotherhood. God is great."
About a dozen protesters took refuge on the balcony of an office of Nour's al-Ghad party, chanting, "Freedom for Ayman Nour" and "Down with Hosni Mubarak".
The Interior Ministry said it detained 314 people - most of them apparently Brotherhood members. But Brotherhood lawmaker Hamdi Hassan said police picked up 500 Brothers, including prominent members Essam el-Erian and Mohammed Morsi.
Nour, 41, was convicted on December 24 and sentenced to five years in prison on charges of forging signatures on petitions to register al-Ghad as a party in 2004.
The appeal court judge said the rejection of his appeal was final, and Nour's wife Gameela Ismail - also a prominent figure in the al-Ghad party - said there was no further legal recourse.
"There is nothing we can do except to continue to struggle for reform," she told The Associated Press.
This "reflects the Egyptian regime's persistent rejection of any serious reform and its exploitation of the international community's leniency with Egypt," Al-Ghad Party chief Nagi el-Ghatrifi said after the verdict.
The two reform judges, El-Bastawisi and Mahmoud Mekki, had become heroes of the reform movement after they blew the whistle on fraud during parliament elections in November and December. Activists have been outraged that the government put them before a disciplinary court rather than investigate the reports of fraud.
Last year, Mubarak contested presidential elections on a platform promising political and constitutional reforms, including ending emergency laws that activists say are used to stifle opposition.
Since then, emergency laws have been extended, municipality elections have been postponed apparently to prevent Brotherhood gains and hundreds of activists have been arrested.
Egyptian officials deny the government is backpedalling on reforms and Mubarak has counselled patience, saying change takes time. - Sapa-AP