SSIS MONITORING OF HUMAN RIGHTS AND DEMOCRACY NGOS

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C O N F I D E N T I A L CAIRO 006132

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

NSC FOR DORAN AND WATERS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/26/2026

TAGS: PGOV, PREL, PHUM, KDEM, KIRF, EG

SUBJECT: SSIS MONITORING OF HUMAN RIGHTS AND DEMOCRACY NGOS

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

1. (C) Summary: An Egyptian human rights activist has

provided details about the GOE security services' monitoring

of human rights and democracy NGOs. This information tracks

with information shared by other activists. End summary.

2. (C) Poloff met on September 27 with Hossam Bahgat

(protect) of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights

(EIPR),a leading Cairo-based NGO that works on privacy

issues, including religious freedom. During the meeting,

Bahgat took a call on his mobile phone, explaining that it

was from the State Security Investigations Sector (SSIS),and

that it was the first time he had heard from SSIS in nine

months. (Note: SSIS is an elite security force that falls

under the direction of the Deputy Interior Minister, General

Hassan Abdul Rahman. Other security forces under the

Ministry of Interior include the regular police (Shurta),the

traffic and tourist police, and the Central Security

Forces--responsible for crowd and riot control and responding

to demonstrations. End note.)

3. (C) Bahgat and the caller held a brief conversation

(which Bahgat later recapped for poloff). The caller, who

identified himself as "Mohammad Mohammadain," told Bahgat

that he was taking over SSIS responsibility for EIPR from

SSIS official Mo'ataz (NFI). Bahgat declined to visit

Mohammadain at his office, saying SSIS has no legal basis for

summoning EIPR. Bahgat said that SSIS officers could visit

EIPR during working hours, and that information about EIPR

was available on its website. Bahgat asked his caller not to

harass EIPR staff as Mo'ataz had done earlier. (Bahgat did

not alert his caller that poloff was present.)

4. (C) Bahgat later reviewed EIPR's history with SSIS.

Bahgat established EIPR in 2002 in response to the Queen Boat

case, in which SSIS used internet chat rooms to lure gay

Egyptians to meetings and then charged them with

"debauchery." After beginning his advocacy on the detainees,

who were later released, Bahgat was contacted by SSIS officer

r />
Walid El-Desouki, who is well known in Egypt's NGO and

opposition circles. Bahgat described El-Desouki as

"thuggish" and said he was relieved when El-Desouki was

replaced in 2003 by Sharif El-Damati, whom he described as a

"yuppie SSIS officer for a yuppie kid like me." Bahgat noted

that he and El-Damati established a modus vivendi, based on

Bahgat's willingness to provide publicly-available

information about EIPR in response to visits to EIPR by

El-Damati. El-Damati, however, was reassigned in spring

2004, after he testified in the trial of anti-war activist

Ashraf Ibrahim who was exonerated on charges of defaming

Egypt by passing information abroad on human rights abuses.

5. (C) El-Damati's replacement, Mo'ataz, took a harder line

with EIPR. Bahgat said that Mo'ataz warned Bahgat, who is

gay, that SSIS knew about Bahgat's "private life." Mo'ataz

also made sexually inappropriate phone calls to several EIPR

female staffers. Bahgat said that in early 2006 he angrily

told Mo'ataz to stop harassing EIPR staff. Bahgat said he

heard no more from Mo'ataz, but he believed that his phone

was monitored. (Note: In January 2006, Bahgat had advised

poloff that he was worried about increased harassment from

SSIS. He did not request any action by poloff at that time.

End note.)

6. (C) Bahgat explained that Egyptian activists take

different approaches to dealing with SSIS. Some, like the

leftist Aida Sayf El-Dawla affiliated with the Nadim Center

Against Torture, adopt a confrontational, non-cooperative

approach. Others, like Hafez Abou Seada of the Egyptian

Organization for Human Rights and Negad El-Borai of the

United Group (a MEPI grantee) have a cozier relationship, and

are known as social acquaintances of their SSIS liaison

officers. Bahgat prefers to be polite and minimally

cooperative with SSIS, sharing only publicly available

information on his work that he would normally share with any

interested party. He said he will continue to resist SSIS

entreaties to "inform on himself," and will refuse to share

copies of internal communications, work plans, or to meet

with SSIS at their offices.

7. (C) Comment: This incident provides a window into how

SSIS monitors the human rights community in Egypt. Bahgat's

report tracks with what we have heard from NDI's Country

Director Francesca Binda (protect) and Shayfeen.com's Engi

El-Haddad and Ghada Shahbender (protect both),who have

separately told poloff that SSIS officers have sought to keep

tabs on their activities. The SSIS liaison officials have

not threatened our other contacts, but have emphasized that

they are concerned with the NGOs' "security." In the case of

Shayfeen.com, their liaison official has also recently urged

them to represent Egypt "properly" in their dealings with

foreign organizations and governments.

RICCIARDONE

SSIS MONITORING OF HUMAN RIGHTS AND DEMOCRACY NGOS

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