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Egypt: Ayman Nour's Stolen Mobile and False Tweet

Categories: Middle East & North Africa, Egypt, Breaking News, Digital Activism, Politics, Technology

This post is part of our special coverage of Egypt Protests 2011 [1].

Ayman Nour, who was one of the candidates in the Egyptian presidential elections in 2005, reportedly sent the following tweet on Saturday, March 5, at about 3am:

@ayman_nour [2]: قراري الأخير : لن أترشح لرئاسة الجمهوريه وأفضل الدكتور محمد البرادعي رئيسا للجمهوريه الفترة القادمه لأن هذه الفترة تحتاج لرجل حكيم
@ayman_nour [2]: My final decision: I will not run in the upcoming presidential election, and I prefer Dr. Mohammad El-Baradie as a president since a wise man is needed in the upcoming period.

One hour later, he sent a correction saying that his mobile was stolen, and that the tweet sent earlier wasn't his.

@ayman_nour [3]: تصحيح لم تصدر مني أي تصريحات بشأن الترشح للانتخابات الرئاسيه من عدمه._ وألسابق نشره بفعل سرقه محمولي اليوم واستخدام اللص لحسابي في تويتر
@ayman_nour [3]: Correction, I haven't made any announcement whether I am going to run in the next presidential elections or not. And the previously sent tweet was because my mobile was stolen, and the thief used my Twitter account.
Snapshot of Ayman Nour's twitter account [4]

Snapshot of Ayman Nour's twitter account

Right after the first tweet, and before the second one, people on Twitter had mixed reactions.

@bassem_tarek [5]: اعلان ايمن نور عن عدم ترشحه للرئاسه زاد كتيير من اعتزازي بشخصه
@bassem_tarek [5]: Ayman Nour's decision not to run for the presidential elections made me appreciate him even more.
@archsoom [6]: قرار ايمن نور قرار وطنى محترم يضع مصلحة البلد فوق اى مصالح اخررى
@archsoom [6]: Ayman Nour's decision is a patriotic and respected one, that puts the interest of his country beyond anything else.

Mahmoud Ibrahim, on the other hand, sees Nour's tweet as useless, since he has been put in jail and has no right in participating in the elections.

@M_ibr [7]: هههه الداكتور ايمن نور بيقول انه لن يترشح للانتخابات ..و هيبايع البراجعي ..مع انه لو راح يقدم ورقه محدش هياخده لانه محروم من الترشح اصلا
@M_ibr [7]: Hahaha, Nour says that he will not run in the presidential elections and will vote for El-Baradie, however if he decided to participate he'll not be allowed to.

Some other tweeps didn't buy Nour's story. As he claimed that is mobile was stolen, yet the fake tweet was sent via Twitter's web interface.

@aymanelhattab [8]: @MennaGamal [9] did you notice that the first tweet was via web?

This made Nour send another tweet clarifying [Ar] [10] that both his blackberry and laptop were stolen.

Update, 18:00 PM: Ayman Nour has just deleted the previously mentioned tweets.

This post is part of our special coverage of Egypt Protests 2011 [1].