Cairo - Egyptian opposition leader Ayman Nour has said he will challenge President Hosny Mubarak in future presidential elections despite a jail term that has weakened his health and a ban on his participation in politics.

Nour was sent to prison in 2005 on forgery charges after winning 13 percent of the vote (although the government said 7 per cent) in a presidential election, second to Mubarak, who has ruled Egypt since 1981.

"I say with great clarity, candor, and courage I will not leave the political scene as long as I'm alive, the ruling system may have won this round, but it will not win the battle that I won't escape from," Nour told the Deutsche Presse-Agentur, dpa in an interview from prison.

"I strongly believe in justice and legitimacy. The last presidential elections were not the final round. There are more rounds to come that I think (will be) more decisive," he added.

Nour, a former lawyer, member of the Egyptian parliament and leader of the Ghad (Tomorrow) party, is now banned from political action and from running for elections for six years from the date of his release.

"The real objective of my imprisonment is to stop me from leading a political life, therefore the president and those around him insist on not granting me an amnesty since this will drop charges that prevent me from practicing my political life," said Nour.

Nour is expected to be released in July 2009. Egypt's next presidential election is scheduled for 2011. Many believe that Mubarak is grooming his son Gamal for the job.

Opposition groups accuse Egypt's ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) of rigging the presidential elections. Mubarak has sought to eliminate challenges to his rule and may have viewed Nour, a liberal widely supported in the west, as a potential threat.

Last February, the State Council Administrative Court denied Nour the release from prison that he had sought on health grounds.

According to Gamila Ismail, Nour's wife, his deteriorating health conditions require extra care that cannot be provided behind the bars of prison. Gamila claims that her husband's diabetes was affecting his eyes, joints, and backbone and that he had arterial diseases.

The Ghad party has weakened significantly, since the incarceration of its charismatic leader.

Nour is also pressing the International Criminal Court to take action against Egypt's political leaders, who, he says, fabricated charges against him to eliminate any political challenge.

The fact that Egypt has not ratified the Convention on the International Criminal Court does not prevent the Court from charge Egyptian officials in a similar way it charged Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, said Nour.

On August 15, Nour wrote to the Chief Prosecutor for the International Criminal Court Louis Moreno-Ocampo complaining against Egyptian officials, including Egyptian President Mubarak, Minister of Interior Habib el-Adli and the Public Prosecutor Abdel Megid Mahmoud.

The opposition leader has been backed by foreign support. In 2005 Condoleezza Rice postponed a visit to Egypt in protest of Nour's imprisonment. Nour was briefly released, and a month later the Egyptian government announced that it would run a multi-candidate presidential election, the country's first.

However, following the poll, in December 2005 Nour was sentenced and sent back to jail.

"The United States is deeply troubled by the conviction today of Egyptian politician Ayman Nour by an Egyptian court. The conviction of Nour, the runner-up in Egypt's 2005 presidential elections, calls into question Egypt's commitment to democracy, freedom, and the rule of law," said press statement by the White House on the day of Nour's sentencing.

US pressure on Egypt to release Nour has waned as George Bush's democracy promotion efforts have lost steam.

Nour has also sent a letter to the US democratic candidate Barack Obama calling for his intervention.

"These lines are sent by a man, about your age, who was-and still is-dreaming like you of change and reform in his country, this legitimate dream. However, in our countries legitimate dreams turn into horrifying nightmares," said the letter, sent last August. (dpa)