Cable sobre blogueros egipcios detenidos
| ID: | 226528 |
| Date: | 2009-09-23 15:01:00 |
| Origin: | 09CAIRO1836 |
| Source: | Embassy Cairo |
| Classification: | CONFIDENTIAL |
| Dunno: | 08CAIRO102 09CAIRO1263 09CAIRO1378 09CAIRO1447 09CAIRO892 09CAIRO928 09CAIRO930 09CAIRO934 |
| Destination: | VZCZCXRO2554 RR RUEHROV DE RUEHEG #1836/01 2661501 ZNY CCCCC ZZH R 231501Z SEP 09 FM AMEMBASSY CAIRO TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 3683 INFO RUEHXK/ARAB ISRAELI COLLECTIVE RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC |
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 CAIRO 001836 SIPDIS FOR NEA/ELA AND DRL/NESCA NSC FOR KUMAR E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/23/2029 TAGS: PHUM, PGOV, KDEM, KIRF, EG SUBJECT: UPDATE ON BLOGGER CASES - SEPTEMBER 2009 REF: A. CAIRO 1447 B. CAIRO 1378 C. CAIRO 1263 D. CAIRO 934 E. CAIRO 930 F. CAIRO 928 G. CAIRO 892 H. 08 CAIRO 102 Classified By: Economic-Political Minister-Counselor Donald A. Blome for reason 1.4 (d). 1. KEY POINTS -- (C) Human rights attorney Gamal Eid, who represents all of Egypt's detained bloggers, told us September 15 he had learned through third party sources that prison officials have tortured jailed Coptic blogger Hany Nazir to pressure him to convert to Islam. The prison has not allowed Eid access to Nazir since his October 2008 arrest under the Emergency Law. -- (C) Eid said that the Court of Cassation has postponed a decision until October on releasing jailed blogger Karim Amer who was convicted of insulting Islam and Mubarak. Eid does not trust the judges to free Amer because of their "lack of independence." -- (C) There has been no movement forward on the case of jailed Sinai blogger Musad Abu Fagr, which Eid attributes to the GOE's view of Abu Fagr as a prominent critic of the government's Sinai policies. -- (C) The Interior Ministry continues to hold prominent blogger Wael Abbas' laptop, which it seized in June. -- (C) We will continue to raise blogger cases with senior GOE officials (refs B, G). 2. (C) Comment: Regarding Hany Nazir's allegations, claims of GOE pressure to compel Copts to convert to Islam are extremely rare. Furthermore, Copts detained in the prison where Nazir is held have told us they have not suffered religiously oriented abuse (ref H). Nazir's attorney Gamal Eid is a credible contact, but he is our sole source of information for the allegation. Other contacts have been unable to verify any information, as prison officials have severely limited Nazir's communication with the outside world following his incarceration in October 2008. We will continue to follow up on the Nazir case. End comment. ----------------------------------- Hany Nazir: Allegations of Torture ----------------------------------- 3. (C) On September 15, human rights attorney Gamal Eid told visiting NEA/ELA desk officer Aaron Pina and poloff that GOE prison officials have been torturing detained blogger Hany Nazir who is a Coptic Christian, in an attempt to pressure him to convert to Islam. Eid told us he learned the information through reliable third party sources, since the GOE has not allowed him to visit Nazir since he was imprisoned in October 2008 under the Emergency Law following blog posts which were deemed offensive to Christianity and Islam (ref E). Eid told us that he filed a legal complaint against the Borg Al-Arab prison in Alexandria upon learning the torture allegations. 4. (C) According to Eid, the Interior Ministry (MOI) has used the Emergency Law to reject five court orders for Nazir's release (ref A). On September 16, Eid's human rights organization issued a public statement that prison officials "assaulted" Nazir after Eid publicly asserted in August that the officials had "pressured" Nazir to convert in exchange for being released. ------------------------------------ Karim Amer: Court Decision Postponed ------------------------------------ 5. (C) Eid told us the Court of Cassation (Egypt's highest appeals court) on September 15 postponed a decision on releasing detained blogger Karim Amer until October 20. Amer has been in jail since October 2006, and was sentenced to four years in prison in February 2007 for insulting Islam and Mubarak (ref E). Eid said that although the court should release Amer on legal grounds, he does not trust the judges to do so because of their lack of independence. Eid issued a press release September 16 saying that he expects the court CAIRO 00001836 002 OF 002 to release Amer in November when he will have served three-quarters of his sentence, and therefore be legally eligible for parole. --------------------------------------------- ------ Musad Abu Fagr: No Progress on Sinai Blogger's Case --------------------------------------------- ------ 6. (C) According to Eid, there has been no movement forward on the case of Musad Abu Fagr, a blogger jailed in December 2007 under the Emergency Law following his blog posts about the Sinai Bedouin. Eid said the GOE believes Abu Fagr has become a "symbolic" figure for critics of the government's Sinai policies because of his blogging and activism. He compared the GOE's targeting of Abu Fagr to its actions against democracy activist Saad Eddin Ibrahim (ref F) and former opposition presidential candidate Ayman Nour (ref D). The Interior Minister told the Ambassador in May that Abu Fagr supported criminal activities related to Palestinians entering Gaza (ref G). -------------------------------- Wael Abbas: Laptop Still Missing -------------------------------- 7. (C) Eid told us MOI officials continue to refuse to return prominent blogger Wael Abbas' laptop, which customs confiscated June 30 at Cairo International Airport following Abbas' criticism of the GOE at a conference in Sweden (refs A, C). Eid noted that an MOI official told him September 14 that another ministry employee had taken the laptop for personal use. 8. (U) NEA/ELA desk officer Aaron Pina cleared this cable. Scobey |
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