Ayman Nour, founder of the liberal Ghad El-Thawra Party, has announced that he has frozen his campaign for Egypt's presidential elections.

The former parliamentarian said he would get back into the presidential race only when the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) hands over power to a civilian government.

“When freedoms are wasted, and exceptional and biased courts become commonplace while the killer [toppled president Hosni Mubarak] is lying on his bed, we must say ‘Leave’ to the military council,” he said after a meeting between his party’s higher committee and the Campaign to Support Ayman Nour as New President.

Nour is considered to be the first staunch critic of Mubarak. In the 2005 presidential elections, he finished second behind Mubarak. Nour was arrested shortly after and given a lengthy prison sentence on charges of falsifying party registrations.

In 2009 he was released from prison on health grounds. Mubarak remained in power until he was overthrown in the wake of the January 25 Revolution.