GOE OPENS A NEW INVESTIGATION AGAINST AYMAN NOUR

C O N F I D E N T I A L CAIRO 001226 SIPDIS SIPDIS NSC STAFF FOR SINGH E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/27/2016 TAGS: PREL PGOV PHUM EG SUBJECT: GOE OPENS A NEW INVESTIGATION AGAINST AYMAN NOUR Classified by ECPO Minister Counselor Michael Corbin for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (C) Gameela Ismail, Ayman Nour's wife, and Hisham Kassem, the Ghad Party vice president, have confirmed wire service reports that the GOE has launched a new investigation against the imprisoned opposition leader. The new case stems from hitherto unreported allegations by an NDP member that Nour assaulted him on September 7, 2005, the day of Egypt's presidential election. ¶2. (C) According to Gameela Ismail and Hisham Kassem (protect),the GOE is formally investigating charges by a low-level NDP member that Nour used a placard to beat the NDP member. Gameela and Nour appeared in court on February 27 in connection with the investigation. Kassem said that he recalled that on September 7 a NDP supporter and Ghad supporters got into a scuffle after the NDP supporter had jostled Ayman Nour's young son. According to Kassem, Nour himself was not involved in the altercation. Kassem described the GOE's decision to open a new investigation against Nour as further evidence of the implacable hostility that the GOE leadership has for Nour. ¶3. (C) Comment: Electoral violence during 2005 (particularly in the case of the parliamentary elections) was a real problem, but the GOE has yet to publicly investigate any perpetrators of this violence. In this context, a GOE investigation of the allegation that Nour was involved in a minor altercation is all the more striking. End comment. RICCIARDONE