GOE RESPONDS TO ALLEGATIONS OF INVOLVEMENT IN IKC

S E C R E T CAIRO 008238 SIPDIS NSC FOR DNSA ABRAMS E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/26/2015 TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM KDEM EG SUBJECT: GOE RESPONDS TO ALLEGATIONS OF INVOLVEMENT IN IKC DISRUPTION IN ALEXANDRIA REF: CAIRO 8188 Classified by ECPO Minister Counselor Michael H. Corbin for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (S) The Ambassador spoke to Minister of Foreign Trade and Industry Rashid Rashid early October 26 to express his concern about allegations (reftel) that the GOE may have had a hand in the disruption of the civil society conference at Alexandria's Metropole Hotel on October 22-23. Rashid expressed great dismay to the Ambassador and promised to raise the issue immediately with Minister of Interior Habib Al-Adly. Later on October 26, Rashid called back to report that he had spoken with Adly, who assured him that the GOE security services had not/not played any role in encouraging or otherwise supporting the protesters. Adly characterized the protesters as minor local (i.e., Alexandria) politicians. ¶2. (S) Rashid stated the Ministry of Interior took the incident very seriously and was investigating the matter thoroughly. Rashid provided the Ambassador (in confidence) with an internal Interior Ministry report on the incident. (Receiving an internal Egyptian police report is unprecedented.) The Arabic-language memo reported factually on civil society meetings at the Ibn Khaldun Center (IKC) in Cairo on October 20, focused on the Foundation for the Future, as well as the October 22-23 events in Alexandria. Regarding the disruption to the conference on October 22, the memo noted that the perpetrators of the disruption were Ibrahim Abdul Malik of the Egypt 2000 party; Mohammad Hassan Al-Sayid, treasurer of an obscure local human rights organization; and Mohammad Mohammad Al-Sayid, a journalist with the pro-GOE newspaper Al-Gomhoriya. The memo erroneously reported that conference organizer Saad Eddin Ibrahim canceled the proceedings on October 23. (Note: In fact, Ibrahim and the rest of the participants conducted the proceedings on October 23 in Ibrahim's suite, in order to eliminate the chance of a second disruption in the more public hotel meeting room. End note.) ¶3. (SBU) Separately on October 26, the Ibn Khaldun Center issued a press release noting that, despite efforts by "elements associated with circles that have an interest in preserving the authoritarian status quo" to disrupt the Metropole Hotel conference, the conference participants were pleased to announce the establishment of the Egyptian Democracy Support Network (EDSN) to monitor and support Egypt's "democratization." ¶4. (S) Comment: The GOE response indicates that the GOE is taking this issue seriously. The Interior Ministry memo supports Rachid's assertion that, notwithstanding the GOE's intense interest in IKC's activities, the GOE did not have a hand in the disruption of the Alexandria conference. End comment. RICCIARDONE