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Source: http://af.reuters.com/article/topNews/idAFJOE83102N20120402?sp=true
Egypt Army Pardons Brotherhood Presidency Nominee
(Reuters) Marwa Awad - Egypt's military has dropped two court convictions against the Muslim Brotherhood's new presidential candidate Khairat al-Shater, clearing him to run in the elections, the movement's lawyer said on Sunday. Shater, 61, was tried in a military court in 1995 and sentenced to five years in jail on charges of "reviving" the Brotherhood. He was also tried and convicted in 2007 on charges of providing university students with arms and training, but was freed in 2011 after serving four and a half years of a seven-year sentence. Under Egyptian law, former convicts cannot occupy official posts. "All charges and cases against engineer Khairat al-Shater have been dropped," said Brotherhood lawyer Abdel Moneim Abdel Maqsood. One army source said the Brotherhood would not publicly name any candidate of its own without prior clearance from the ruling military council.