Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
05CAIRO4362
2005-06-10 15:35:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Cairo
Cable title:  

GOE FORMALLY COMPLAINS ABOUT KORAN MISHANDLING

Tags:  PGOV PREL KPAO KISL EG 
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This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 CAIRO 004362 

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/08/2015
TAGS: PGOV PREL KPAO KISL EG
SUBJECT: GOE FORMALLY COMPLAINS ABOUT KORAN MISHANDLING
AFTER STEADY, BUT MUTED, EGYPTIAN MEDIA COVERAGE

REF: A. STATE 104406


B. CAIRO 3763

C. CAIRO 3647

Classified by A/DCM Michael Corbin for reasons 1.4 (b) and
(d).

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 CAIRO 004362

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/08/2015
TAGS: PGOV PREL KPAO KISL EG
SUBJECT: GOE FORMALLY COMPLAINS ABOUT KORAN MISHANDLING
AFTER STEADY, BUT MUTED, EGYPTIAN MEDIA COVERAGE

REF: A. STATE 104406


B. CAIRO 3763

C. CAIRO 3647

Classified by A/DCM Michael Corbin for reasons 1.4 (b) and
(d).


1. (C) Summary: Following media reports of Foreign Minister
Aboul Gheit's condemnation of the alleged desecration of the
Koran at the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, the MFA
called the Charge to complain about the reported
mistreatment, explaining that it had delayed comment until
the USG had completed its internal investigation. Egyptian
media coverage of the alleged desecration has been steady,
but muted, perhaps due to the timing of the story, which
coincided with an historic referendum to change the
presidential election process. Most media outlets offered
straightforward reports on the story and the subsequent
investigation, without much editorializing. Religious and
anti-American publications took a predictably stronger tone,
theorizing that USG denials were untrue. Comments made by
the Grand Imam of Al Azhar and the Egyptian FM were widely
reported, while one columnist used the incident to criticize
regional leaders. End summary.


2. (U) Recent Egyptian press reports highlighted comments
from Egyptian Foreign Minister Aboul Gheit condemning the
desecration of the Koran, and from the Organization of the
Islamic Conference Secretary General stating that he had
asked the USG to try soldiers involved in the alleged
Guantanamo incidents. The June 6 edition of Al Ahram
reported that Aboul Gheit, "speaking to the Foreign Affairs
and Arab Affairs (parliamentary) committees, in what is
considered the first official Egyptian reaction to the
desecration from the Egyptian Government, denounce(d),
tremendously, the desecration of the Koran and condemn(ed)
all who took part in this work .... He added that the
Egyptian Foreign Ministry is currently dialoguing with the
American side on the matter." In addition, most dailies
reported on June 8 new "revelations" that Israeli prison
guards had used similar tactics of desecrating the Koran
during Palestinian interrogations.


3. (C) Following Aboul Gheit,s comments in Parliament that

the GOE was "dialoguing" with the USG on the matter, Shadia
Farrag, the Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs for
American Affairs, called the Charge to deliver a demarche to
the USG on Koran desecration at Guantanamo. She stated that
the GOE had not reacted to the original account in Newsweek
of the allegations, choosing to wait for the USG to complete
its own investigation. The results of that investigation
having been published, Farrag said the GOE now wanted to
express its strong condemnation of any mistreatment of the
Koran. She added that the GOE perceived that the issue was
causing popular outrage in Egypt. (Comment: Post is aware of
only two moderately-sized demonstrations on this issue, one
outside Al Azhar Mosque in Cairo following Friday prayers on
May 20 and the other in Alexandria on May 27. End comment.)


4. (SBU) Egyptian media outlets widely reported factual
accounts of the initial allegations of Koran desecration at
Guantanamo Bay and subsequent investigations, with little
editorializing. The media's attention to the national
referendum on an amendment to change the nature of
presidential elections may partly explain the limited
editorializing on the Koran desecration allegations.
Opposition newspapers have devoted their pages to coverage of
referendum-related violence and shortcomings of the amendment
itself.


5. (U) In contrast to the mainstream media, the weekly
journal Aqidatti, a moderate religious newspaper, and the
nationalist, anti-American Al-Osboa (circulation: 70,000)
repeatedly published reports about the allegations, including
stories that USG statements that the Newsweek story was
inaccurate were untrue. One columnist in Al-Osboa of May 25
claimed that the United States, by its actions, had launched
a war against Islam. Another, in the same issue, blamed the
Egyptian Foreign Minister for failing to take a strong
position on the alleged desecrations.


6. (U) Aqidatti and Al Azhar newspaper (both limited in
distribution) focused much of their reporting on the reaction
of Sheikh Tantawi, the Grand Imam of Al Azhar, who, they
reported, sent an official request for information to the
U.S. Department of State. Both papers reported that the
State Department responded to the Grand Imam and assured him
that the allegations of desecration were untrue. Aqidatti
claimed that this assurance was a lie. (Note: We understand
that the Department received such a request via the Egyptian
Embassy in Washington. Embassy Cairo has not initiated, and
is not aware of, any USG response. End note.) On June 4, Al
Ahram reported that the Grand Imam would be sending a second
letter to the Department for further information following
the release of the investigation report. On June 8, the
religious weekly publication, Lewa Islami, carried a
front-page story that Sheikh Tantawi, in a statement to the
newspaper, said that he had asked the U.S. to punish those
who had committed these crimes against the Koran, adding that
a strong punishment would be the only way to ensure these
acts were not repeated. He called on the U.S. to apologize
to the entire Arab world.


7. (U) While many newspaper columnists used the story to
criticize USG lack of respect for Islam, a columnist in the
liberal weekly Al-Dustur (circulation: 70,000) wrote that
Arab leaders had used the Guantanamo story to distract their
people from local problems and to re-invent themselves as
political and religious leaders. Khalid Salah rejected
"those who use the Koran to serve their political interests
and use all holy concepts as their primary lines of defense
to defend their thrones and their seats of power."


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GRAY