Egypt's top prosecutor has charged opposition leader Ayman Nour with forgery, in a case that has sparked high-level criticism in the United States and Europe.

The indictments were announced Tuesday in Cairo. No trial date has been set.

Mr. Nour, who says he will seek the Egyptian presidency in upcoming elections, is set to stand trial along with six defendants from his al-Ghad party. Prosecutors allege Mr. Nour used documents with forged signatures last year when registering the party with the Cairo government.

Mr. Nour was arrested in January and spent six weeks in a Cairo jail, before his release on bond last week. In a letter to Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, the New York-based Human Rights Watch said it was dismayed by what it called Cairo's "radical intolerance" toward political dissent. The U.S. State Department and the European parliament also voiced concern.