Longtime Egyptian opposition leader Ayman Nour has been barred from running in Egypt’s upcoming presidential election expected to take place in 2013. A Cairo court ruled him ineligible because of a controversial forgery conviction. Nour was charged with the crime in 2005 ahead of his run against former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak. Pro-democracy activists have criticized the exclusion of Nour at a time when former members of Mubarak’s National Democratic Party have been allowed to register unimpeded for parliamentary elections.