EGYPT: SENIOR JUDGE PREDICTS OUTCOME OF AYMAN NOUR

C O N F I D E N T I A L CAIRO 000861 SIPDIS NSC STAFF FOR SINGH E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/13/2016 TAGS: PGOV PHUM KDEM EG SUBJECT: EGYPT: SENIOR JUDGE PREDICTS OUTCOME OF AYMAN NOUR CASE REF: A. CAIRO 314 ¶B. 05 CAIRO 9545 Classified by ECPO Minister Counselor Michael Corbin for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (C) During a meeting with several senior judicial officials on February 12, Judge Ahmed Khalifa (strictly protect),President of Egypt's Supreme Court of Appeals, pulled poloff aside to provide an apparently well-informed prediction about the legal case of imprisoned opposition leader Ayman Nour. Speaking in a low whisper, Khalifa told poloff that Nour's conviction would be overturned by Egypt's Court of Cassation within three months. "The case will then come to me, and I will give him a one year suspended sentence," Khalifa stated. "No one knows this, not even my colleagues," added Khalifa, pointing to fellow judges sitting at the meeting table across the room. ¶2. (C) Comment: Khalifa's report strikes us as plausible and a typically Egyptian solution to the problem the Nour case has posed for the GOE. His statements also clearly implied that the Nour case was being directed at the political level, rather than by its legal merits as determined by the judiciary. End comment. ¶3. (C) Meanwhile, Nour's chief defense attorney, Amir Salem, told us on February 13 that the legal team was in the final stages of preparing an appeal, which he predicted could be filed as soon as February 16. Salem added that Nour's health and morale in prison have improved markedly in the past two weeks. Nour has been moved to the "ranch" - a section of Torah Prison reserved mainly for white collar criminals. RICCIARDONE