WASHINGTON, Jan 23 (Reuters) - The United States on Tuesday called on Egypt to consider freeing opposition leader Ayman Nour because of his deteriorating health and urged the government to ensure he gets adequate medical treatment.

Nour, the main challenger to Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in 2005 presidential elections, is serving a 5-year sentence for submitting forged documents when setting up his liberal political party. He says the charges were fabricated.

Twenty-three Egyptian human rights groups urged Mubarak on Monday to free Nour, a diabetic whose health has seriously deteriorated since a Dec. 18 cardiac catheterization procedure in a Cairo hospital.

"We have continuing and serious concerns about his medical condition," said State Department spokesman Sean McCormack. "At the very minimum, he should be given all the medical care that he needs."

Asked if Nour should be freed, the spokesman replied, "We would ask for some consideration of that."

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who has been criticized for muting her calls for democracy and human rights in Egypt, raised Nour's case with Mubarak when they met in Egypt last week, McCormack said.

A statement released by the Egyptian Organization for Human Rights, Egypt's main independent rights group, said 23 rights groups were asking Mubarak to reduce the 42-year-old Nour's sentence to the 13 months he has already served.

It said Nour's family had said prison authorities prevented his doctors and lawyers from visiting him, violating both the Egyptian constitution and international agreements.

Nour won 8 percent of the vote in the 2005 elections, coming a distant second to Mubarak on 89 percent.

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