Egypt on Saturday released on bail Ayman Nour, an opposition leader detained since the end of January who has promised to run against incumbent President Hosni Mubarak in multi-candidate elections this September.
Scores of people, waving orange Ghad (Tomorrow) party flags, cheered Nour as he left a Cairo detention center after supporters paid his bail of 10,000 Egyptian pounds (USD 1,724).
Nour, had been held for about six weeks during investigations into allegations that his party forged documents when it applied for recognition last year. The party says the allegations are fabrications.
No foreign help
"He came out much stronger than he went in -- himself, the party and most of all the spirit of freedom in Egypt," party member Mazen Mostafa told Reuters.
Nour, who has said he intends to run for president under plans to allow multi-candidate elections in Egypt, has said he does not want any foreign intervention on his behalf.
Presidential candidate
Nour has been a vocal advocate of constitutional change and welcomed President Hosni Mubarak's
proposal last month to change the constitution to allow multi-candidate elections to replace the existing single-candidate referendum. The proposal to amend the constitution is working its way through parliament.
He announced his intention to run for the presidency in the first edition of the party's newspaper that came out this week.
Other opposition parties have also welcomed Mubarak's proposals, but some have also voiced concerns that parliament, which is dominated by Mubarak's ruling National Democratic Party, will put so many conditions on who can run that it will render any presidential race meaningless.