RELEASE OF EGYPTIAN NATIONALS FROM GUANTANAMO

C O N F I D E N T I A L CAIRO 003687 SIPDIS FOR S/WCI AND NEA/ELA E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/15/2015 TAGS: PTER PREL KAWC EG SUBJECT: RELEASE OF EGYPTIAN NATIONALS FROM GUANTANAMO REF: A. STATE 78994 ¶B. STATE 47824 ¶C. CAIRO 2494 ¶D. STATE 34902 ¶E. CAIRO 757 Classified by A/DCM Michael Corbin for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (C) As instructed ref A, Embassy has gone back through liaison channels to reiterate to the GOE the Department's points on the cases of Sami Abd El Aziz Salem Allaithy and Allah Muhammad Saleem, Egyptian detainees at Guantanamo Bay Cuba. We have asked that the GOE expedite their response. ¶2. (C) As discussed in ref E, the Egyptian government has expressed its willingness to accept its nationals detained in Guantanamo and will certainly detain them for questioning/debriefing upon their return. The GOE's determination on whether the subjects will then be released or referred for prosecution will come only after it weighs the results of its own investigation and interviews of the detainees. ¶3. (C) While the GOE is willing to accept all Egyptian detainees, our sense is that they do not perceive a core or urgent national security interest in doing so, and their flexibility on the terms of return, and assurances they are prepared to provide, is open to question. ¶4. (C) The Embassy will continue to press the GOE to provide specific and substantive responses to our concerns regarding the terms and modalities of returning these detainees. Visit Embassy Cairo's Classified Website: http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/cairo You can also access this site through the State Department's Classified SIPRNET website. GRAY