WASHINGTON, Feb 15 (AFP) - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told her Egyptian counterpart Tuesday that Washington had "very strong concerns" over the jailing of an opposition leader in Cairo, and wanted the case resolved quickly.
Rice used talks with Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmad Aboul Gheit to raise the case of Ayman al-Nur, head of the Al-Ghad (Tomorrow) party, who has been detained pending a fraud investigation.
"I did raise our concerns, our very strong concerns, about this case," the chief US diplomat later told reporters at a news conference with the envoy from one of Washington's closest Arab allies.
"I did talk at some length about the importance of this issue to the United States, to the American administration, to the American Congress, to the American people," she said.
"And I expressed our very strong hope that there will be a resolution of this very soon."
Nur, an elected member of parliament, has been accused of falsifying documents to support his bid to formally register his movement. An Egyptian state security judge ordered him detained for 45 days on January 31.
US officials have criticized Nur's detention and said it raised questions about the outlook for democratic process in Egypt.
Rice said she discussed with the Egyptian minister "issues of reform and liberalization in the Arab world" and recalled the remarks made by President George W. Bush in his State of the Union address two weeks ago.
"I noted to him the president's remarks ... that the Egyptian government has the opportunity and the responsibility to be as great a leader for reform in the region as it has been a leader for peace."
02/15/2005 23:48 GMT - AFP