ALEXANDRIA JUDGES CLUB CHIEF ON ELECTIONS

C O N F I D E N T I A L CAIRO 001395 SIPDIS SIPDIS NSC FOR WATERS C O R R E C T E D C O P Y 2ND FOR PARA 3 CLASSIFICATION AND "CLASSIFIED BY" INFO. E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/13/2017 TAGS: PGOV KJUS KDEM EG SUBJECT: ALEXANDRIA JUDGES CLUB CHIEF ON ELECTIONS CLASSIFIED BY BILL STEWART FOR REASONS 1.4 (B) AND (D) ¶1. (SBU) Summary: In a recent meeting, Mahmoud Khodiry (head of the Alexandria Judges Club, a respected judicial figure and frequent critic of the GOE),criticized the curtailment of a judicial role in Egypt's elections, opining that, "the government has no interest in truly free elections, so has removed judges from any role in effective monitoring of voting." He was highly skeptical of the soon-to-be formed Supreme Electoral Comission, and asserted that in his view, the only way forward is "to insist upon international monitoring" of Egypt's elections. End summary. ¶2. (SBU) The American Center in Alexandria on May 8 inaugurated a "Legal English" training program with 19 judges from the Alexandria Judges Club. President of the Alexandria Judges Club, Mahmoud Khodiry, a frequent outspoken critic of the GOE, attended the inauguration, and spoke admiringly of the U.S. Supreme Court and U.S. justice system. Prior to the ceremony, Judge Khodiry sat down privately with PO Alexandria and poloff, and provided his views on the ongoing sour relations between the Judges Clubs and the Ministry of Justice. ¶3. (C) Khodiry asserted that the government has no interest in truly free elections, so has removed judges from any role in effective monitoring of voting, through the amendment of constitutional Article 88, and the subsequent changes to the Political Rights Law, which provide for the creation of a Supreme Electoral Commission (septel). He compared the situation to the infamous "judges massacre" under President Gamal Abdel Nasser, saying that though the methods were quite different, the goal was very much the same -- to curtail the limitations imposed by an independent judiciary upon the designs of an un-democratic government. (Note: In 1969, in an effort to quelch the vocal pro-reform leadership of the Judges Club, Nasser dismissed over a hundred sitting judges, that together with other restrictive measures, came to be termed the "judges massacre." End note.) ¶4. (SBU) Khodiry noted that he was not wedded to a judicial role in the elections process; rather, his aim is that an independent and honest mechanism is in place for ensuring free elections in Egypt. He was skeptical of the changes to the Political Rights Law, viewing them as targeted at removing judges from their monitoring role -- "we are paying the price of doing our job too well in the 2005 parliamentary elections!" Khodiry had no confidence in the to-be-formed Supreme Electoral Commission (SEC),predicting the role of the SEC would be limited to organizing elections and announcing results. The critical element is who watches over the voting boxes and the vote count. If this is not within the specific responsibility of the SEC, then there was no hope for it. Khodiry noted that "the only way forward" is to insist upon international monitoring, which he enthusiastically welcomes. ¶5. (SBU) When asked about coordination between the different Egyptian Judges Clubs, Khodiry explained the history of the organization from its establishment in the early 20th century to serve the needs of judges, all of whom in those days resided in Cairo with occasional trips to the hinterlands to investigate and hear evidence. Once the court systems developed in other cities, the club established "branches" in each province. The Alexandria Club is therefore a branch of the larger Judges Club, with the national headquarters still in Cairo. He said it was the policy of the current Minister of Justice to break the connection of the branch clubs from one another, in an effort to weaken the overall power of the club. The Minister has to date refused to meet with any of the Judges Clubs in Egypt, breaking tradition from his predecessors. ¶6. (SBU) Khodiry was accompanied by his deputy in the Alexandria Judges Club, Judge Essam Tewfiq Farag, who was critical of what he saw as the USG's "recent silence" and "lack of pressure" in pushing Egypt towards political reforms. Farag mused that the U.S. could have been overtly and publicly critical of several of the proposed constitutional amendments, for instance. We noted that political reform was still very much a part of the U.S.-Egypt dialogue. RICCIARDONE