CORRECTED COPY: EGYPT: POLICE SUPPRESS

C O N F I D E N T I A L CAIRO 002796

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

NSC STAFF FOR SINGH

E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/11/2016
TAGS: PGOV PHUM KDEM EG
SUBJECT: CORRECTED COPY: EGYPT: POLICE SUPPRESS
DEMONSTRATIONS IN SUPPORT OF JUDGES CLUB

REF: A. CAIRO 2761

B. CAIRO 2493

C. CAIRO 2407

D. CAIRO 2134

Classified by DCM Stuart Jones for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).


1. (C) Summary: Over 1000 demonstrators turned out in
Central Cairo to express solidarity with Egypt's Judges Club
(JC) on May 11 as two members of the JC leadership faced
another disciplinary board hearing to answer charges of
slander after they exposed fraud in last fall's parliamentary
elections. After a dispute over legal representation, the
accussed judges walked out and the hearing was postponed to
May 18. On the streets, the demonstrators' numbers were
dwarfed by security force numbers, which were easily in the
thousands. A number of journalists trying to cover the event
were assaulted as were many demonstrators. During a meeting
at parliament, Speaker Fathy Surour repeated to the DCM the
GOE's line that the conflict is intra-judicial and that the
GOE fully supports the principle of judicial independence.
The GOE has mishandled today's events - its apparent
authorization of violence against demonstrators and
journalists is particularly regrettable and likely to come
back to haunt it. End summary.


2. (C) A massive security force operation in Central Cairo
succeeded in preventing demonstrators from congregating at or
near the Judges Club and the Central Court Complex.
Demonstrators from Kefaya, the Egyptian Movement for Change,
Ayman Nour's Ghad Party, the Muslim Brotherhood, and various
smaller groupings, all mobilized to express solidarity with
members of the Judges Club leadership, two of whom faced
another disciplinary hearing today to answer charges that
they had defamed their colleagues with their allegations of
fraud and malfeasance in the fall 2005 parliamentary
elections.


3. (C) The demonstrators were kept in check by riot police
cordons that sealed off roughly ten square blocks in Central
Cairo. Even residents of the neighborhood were prevented
from entering or leaving their homes. An Amcit academic
contact on the scene guessed that the total number of
demonstrators was about 1500, divided into pockets along
police cordon lines on the approaches to the courthouse. He
guessed that of the 1500, about 800 were from the Muslim
Brotherhood and 700 from various secular opposition groups.
The websites of Kefaya and the MB each cited "security
sources" claiming that 237 demonstrators had been arrested in
Cairo.


4. (C) Poloff and POL FSN visiting the scene were hampered in
their mobility by the cordons. Well over 100 armored
security force trucks were deployed throughout the Ramses
Street - July 23 corridor adjacent to the Central Court
House. POL FSN witnessed a charge by baton-wielding riot
police against a pocket of obviously Islamist demonstrators
(several of whom were severely beaten) and got caught up in
an arrest sweep, as he and dozens of others were herded into
a paddy wagon. He was released unharmed within half an hour,
with RSO assistance, after establishing that he was a Coptic
Christian passer-by and not a member of the group of Islamist
demonstrators.


5. (C) Our Amcit academic contact told poloff he witnessed an
assault by "plain clothes state security" on journalists
gathered on Talaat Harb Street about four blocks south of the
Central Court House. According to our contact, a Jazeera
crew was interviewing an activist near a police cordon when a
group of demonstrators gathered around to chant anti-regime
slogans. Within minutes, a "rapid response team" of dozens
of "plain clothes security" arrived at the scene and divided
into two groups, one of which charged the demonstrators while
the other went for the journalists. The attackers threw the
equipment of the Al-Jazeera cameraman onto the pavement and
beat him - and then moved on in an apparently systematic way
to beat a cameraman from Reuters, and also roughed up a
female journalist from Knight-Ridder.


6. (C) Several blocks away, an AP correspondent told us she
was knocked over and trampled when a group of riot police
charged a pocket of demonstrators. She suffered bruises to
the back, abdomen and head but told poloff she was not
severely hurt. She said that in addition to the Jazeera
cameraman, she had heard that crews from Qatar-TV and MBC had
also been assaulted. "No one has footage - they are clearly
trying to prevent anyone from taking pictures of the
violence," she stated.


7. (C) Meanwhile, at the Central Cairo Courthouse, a separate
drama unfolded when Judges Hisham Bastawisy and Mahmoud Mekky
reported to the second hearing of the disciplinary board
investigating them for slandering their colleagues by
exposing elections irregularities. When the two judges
arrived at the hearing with a large entourage of legal
advisors, they were told by the board that they could only
bring with them four lawyers each, and that the board would
decide which four could come in. Bastawisy and Mekky deemed
the terms unacceptable and humiliating and refused to enter -
and instead returned to the Judges Club premises. After
several hours of uncertainty, the Supreme Judiciary Council
announced that they would postpone the hearing by one week,
to May 18, at the request of the Public Prosecutor. (Note:
Egypt's Court of Cassation is also expected to hear the
appeal of imprisoned opposition leader Ayman Nour on May 18.
End note.)


8. (C) During a visit May 11 by a National War College
delegation to the Egyptian Parliament, the DCM raised the
Judges Club issue. Speaker Fathy Surour, who took several
calls about unfolding developments during the meeting,
repeated the GOE line: The dispute is not between the GOE
and the Judges but is rather "between the Judges Club and the
Supreme Judicial Council." The GOE fully supports the
principle of judicial independence, Surour asserted, but the
Judges Club's technical disagreements with the Supreme
Judiciary Council have been exploited and politicized by
other groups, such as the quasi-leftist Kefaya and the Muslim
Brotherhood. The DCM pushed back, asserting that both the
judges issue and the demonstrations were being mishandled.


9. (C) Comment: We do not believe the Supreme Judiciary
Council would be taking such controversial and punitive steps
against the JC leadership without the full approval of the
executive, which appointed its members. The GOE has badly
managed today's events, apparently authorizing the use of
excessive force to punish and intimidate demonstrators. The
apparent targeting of journalists is particularly regrettable
and likely to come back to haunt the GOE. End comment.


10. (SBU) We believe the Department, if asked, should make
clear the USG's regret over today's events and may wish to
make a statement along the following lines:

-- We are concerned by the apparently heavy-handed actions of
police against journalists and citizens peacefully exercising
their right to express their views.
RICCIARDONE