EGYPT: JUDGES CLUB SUPPORTERS AND POLICE CLASH IN

C O N F I D E N T I A L CAIRO 002493

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

NSC STAFF FOR SINGH

E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/27/2017
TAGS: PGOV PHUM KDEM EG
SUBJECT: EGYPT: JUDGES CLUB SUPPORTERS AND POLICE CLASH IN
THE STREET AS VERDICT POSTPONED

REF: A. CAIRO 2407

B. CAIRO 2134

Classified by ECPO Minister-Counselor Michael Corbin for
reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).


1. (C) Summary: The disciplinary hearing for two leaders of
the Judges' Club "revolt" against the GOE (reftels) ended
today with a postponement of the verdict to May 11. Outside
of the central Cairo court complex where the hearing took
place, thousands of demonstrators voiced support for the
judges. The demonstrators, convened under the banner of the
Kefaya protest movement, numbered two to three thousand, a
very large political gathering by Cairo standards. Thousands
more riot police, and hundreds of plain clothes personnel,
kept the demonstrators in check - trying to block and
separate them whenever possible. There were a number of
scuffles between police and demonstrators. Dramatic footage
of hundreds of riot police swinging batons and charging
demonstrators was carried on Al-Jazeera TV. The clashes come
in spite of President Mubarak's assertions in an April 24
interview downplaying the dispute and ruling out drastic
action from the GOE. A senior GOE insider blamed the
Minister of Justice for mishandling the dispute and allowing
it to develop into a major crisis. The sit-in at the Judges
Club is likely to continue at least until May 11. End
summary.


2. (C) The disciplinary hearing for Judges Mahmoud Makky and
Hisham Bastawisy, ostensibly to hold the two to account for
"slandering" their colleagues on the bench by revealing
details of fraud and malfeasance in last fall's parliamentary
elections, was convened on the morning of April 27. Though
all the details of the hearing are not yet known, the board
adjourned the proceeding to May 11, when a verdict is
expected. Makky and Bastawisy could be dismissed from the
bench if found guilty. As the two left the Central Cairo
courthouse, Makky gave the crowd of hundreds waiting outside
a victory sign, prompting thunderous applause.


3. (C) POL FSN, who visited the scene, estimated at least 150
police trucks were staged in the roughly six block area that
encompasses the central Cairo courthouse (Dar Al-Qada
Al-Aly),the Judges Club headquarters, the Lawyers Syndicate,
and the Press Syndicate. In addition to thousands of Central
Security Force troops in full riot gear, hundreds of plain
clothes security personnel milled about. Major arteries in
Central Cairo, including Ramses and 26 July Streets, were
closed midday.


4. (C) Security forces set up a number of lines to prevent
the at least two to three thousand demonstrators in the area
from merging together. On at least one occasion, captured
with dramatic footage on Al-Jazeera TV, a group of hundreds
of demonstrators were charged by a thick wall of
baton-swinging Central Security Forces.


5. (C) A Kefaya activist contact gave poloff an emotional
account of her experience on April 27. Caught with a crowd
of demonstrators in a bottleneck caused by a police
barricade, she took a sharp baton blow to the arm. Six young
men near by were dragged away and thrown into a paddy wagon.
Several others received severe beatings from baton wielding
police. "You cannot imagine how low we have sunk! Why do
the police attack the people in this way?! I am disgusted
and shocked! Chaos prevails!" she exclaimed.


6. (C) At Judges Club headquarters, just a block from the
courthouse, Muqbel Shaker, Deputy Chief Justice of the Court
of Cassation, and Club President Zakaria Abdel Aziz gave
defiant statements to the press. "They can drag all of us
down, and open an investigation of me, I don't mind," Shaker
stated. "We will not abandon our demands for a law that
guarantees the true independence of the judiciary," Abdel
Aziz told an enthusiastic crowd.


7. (C) Supporters of the Judges Club have been joining judges
in a continuous sit-in at the Club since the referral of Club
leaders Makky and Bastawisy to the disciplinary board last
week (ref A). Early April 24, police intervened to break up
the gathering at the Club. According to multiple press
acounts, when Judge Mahmoud Hamza began to film the police's
rough treatment of demonstrators using the camera in his
mobile phone, he was beaten and dragged to a police station,
then released and hospitalized for injuries to the head.
(Note: The pro-government Rose Al-Youssef reported that Judge
Hamza had threatened police with a pistol. End note.)


8. (C) Again on the evening of April 26, a large security

force moved into the area surrounding the Judges Club,
dispersing a crowd gathered for a vigil in advance of the
April 27 disciplinary hearing. Civil society contacts told
us that a number of those dispersed had been beaten and/or
detained by police, including high profile Kefaya spokesman
Kamal Khalil.


9. (C) On April 24, President Mubarak stated in an interview
with the pro-government daily Al-Gomhouria that the dispute
was an intra-judicial matter between the Judges Club and the
Supreme Judicial Council - insisting that the GOE itself
remained above the fray. Mubarak ruled out talk of a repeat
of the 1969 "judicial massacre" in which President Nasser
fired 250 judges when they organized and militated for a new
judicial law. "Everyone knows how much I respect Egypt's
judges and value judicial independence," the President
stated.


10. (C) In an April 26 discussion with poloff, a senior
Justice Ministry source blamed the crisis on Minister of
Justice Aboul Leil - "it never should have reached this
point," he told poloff. "Aboul Leil should have gone to
Alexandria last year, when the first (Judges Club General
Assembly) meeting happened, and sat down with the Club and
worked it out." "This would have never happened under the
former Minister (Farouq Seif Al-Nasser),he was a man of the
Judiciary - Aboul Leil was a governor, a politician, he does
not know how to deal with judges," he stated. He asserted
that rather than engaging (and perhaps co-opting) the Club,
Aboul Leil approached the issue as an adversary, prompting
continuous escalation. (Note: There has been much
speculation in the Egyptian media this week that both Justice
Minister Aboul Leil, in the wake of the judicial crisis, and
Interior Minister Adly, in the wake of the latest terrorist
bombings, would soon be replaced. A spokesman for the Prime
Minister has denied the rumors. End note.)


11. (C) Another contact from the Kefaya movement told us on
the afternoon of April 27, that the Judges Club had resolved
to continue the sit-in at the Club until the verdict in the
disciplinary hearing is read on May 11.


12. (C) Comment: The GOE is in a tight spot. The perceived
moral authority of the judges, and the Judges Club, which
represents at least a majority, if not all of Egypt's judges,
is considerable. Today's images of police beating the
judges' unarmed supporters will not play well, inside Egypt
or abroad. Our GOE contacts keep telling us that a new
judiciary bill, that takes on board Judges Club demands for
structural changes to the judiciary, is in preparation and
will be presented before the legislative session ends in
June. However, the contents of the draft remain closely held
and it is uncertain whether the bill will go far enough to
satisfy the Club and defuse the crisis. End comment.
RICCIARDONE