Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
07CAIRO2292
2007-07-25 16:27:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Cairo
Cable title:  

STATE SECURITY RESPONDS TO REPORTED MISTREATMENT

Tags:  PHUM PGOV PREL KIRF EG 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXYZ0060
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHEG #2292 2061627
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
O 251627Z JUL 07
FM AMEMBASSY CAIRO
TO SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 6266
C O N F I D E N T I A L CAIRO 002292 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/25/2017
TAGS: PHUM PGOV PREL KIRF EG
SUBJECT: STATE SECURITY RESPONDS TO REPORTED MISTREATMENT
OF CHRISTIAN CONVERT

REF: A. HANFORD-STEWART TELCON 7/18/2007

B. HANFORD-STEWART-RICCIARDONE TELCONS 7/23/2007

C. HANFORD-RICCIARDONE E-MAIL 7/24/2007

Classified by Ambassador Francis Ricciardone for reasons 1.4
(b) and (d)

C O N F I D E N T I A L CAIRO 002292

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/25/2017
TAGS: PHUM PGOV PREL KIRF EG
SUBJECT: STATE SECURITY RESPONDS TO REPORTED MISTREATMENT
OF CHRISTIAN CONVERT

REF: A. HANFORD-STEWART TELCON 7/18/2007

B. HANFORD-STEWART-RICCIARDONE TELCONS 7/23/2007

C. HANFORD-RICCIARDONE E-MAIL 7/24/2007

Classified by Ambassador Francis Ricciardone for reasons 1.4
(b) and (d)


1. (C) Summary: State Security Investigations Service
(SSIS) Brigadier General Mohamed Youssef told A/Polcouns that
Egyptian security personnel had not/not mistreated
Muslim-born convert to Christianity Shaymaa Mohamed El-Sayed
during her July 16-23 detention and that, upon her release
from police custody, she had gone willingly with her Muslim
father and brother. Youssef said the Shaymaa controversy is
connected to a "family dispute." We reminded Youssef that
the USG, including Congress, paid close attention to reported
abuses of religious freedom and human rights in Egypt. We
pressed Youssef for access by an Embassy officer to Shaymaa;
Youssef voiced no direct objection, but observed that the
woman's family might be reluctant to allow her to meet with
an Embassy officer. We will continue to seek contact with
Shaymaa to obtain her version of events. End summary.


2. (SBU) Drawing on information provided by DRL/IRF to post
(refs),we contacted senior officials in the Ministries of
Foreign Affairs and Interior on July 19 to register USG
concerns about the Shaymaa case. As reported by the
Christian advocacy group Compass Direct in press releases on
July 18 and 23, Shaymaa (AKA Eman) Mohamed El-Sayed is a
26-year-old Alexandria woman. Compass Direct alleges that
her conversion to Christianity from Islam in 2003 led to a
series of events that eventually resulted in her detention
and torture by Egyptian police July 16-23. Compass Direct
further reports that the police released her into the custody
of her Muslim family on July 23, and that family members are
continuing to abuse her. The Compass Direct press releases
are based on the accounts of unidentified "eyewitnesses."
DRL/IRF reports that the information regarding the alleged
mistreatment of Shaymaa is "accurate" and "extremely
reliable."


3. (C) Brigadier Youssef, the senior SSIS officer
responsible for liaison with foreign embassies, invited
A/Polcouns to his Ministry of Interior office in Cairo on
July 25 to discuss the Shaymaa case. Youssef, who was joined
by four other SSIS officers, confirmed that Alexandria police
have several open investigations involving Shaymaa, including
a 2003 missing persons report filed by her family and a 2004
fraudulent identity documents charge, related to her apparent
purchase of a fake national ID card. (Note: The GOE
bureaucracy, which requires citizens to list their faith on
ID cards, generally refuses to recognize citizens' claims
that they have converted from Islam to Christianity.
Muslim-born converts to Christianity in Egypt sometimes
choose to procure fraudulent ID cards reflecting their new
faith. End note.) Youssef said that police in Alexandria
detained Shaymaa on July 16 in connection with the open
investigation into her alleged fake ID card. He did not
provide details on the decision to release Shaymaa on July 23.


4. (C) Brigadier Youssef denied the Compass Direct
allegations that Shaymaa suffered abuse at the hands of the
Egyptian security services. He also said that she had gone
willingly and without fear when the police had concluded that
she could be released. We reminded Youssef that the USG
places high priority on protecting and advocating human
rights and religious freedom, and asked Youssef for his views
on the possibility of arranging a meeting between Shaymaa and
an Embassy officer. Youssef said that he thought that the
family would object to such a meeting, on the grounds that
they would suspect the Embassy of bias, and that he had
reservations about SSIS brokering such a meeting, but that he
would make the necessary inquiries. Youssef said he would
not object to us trying to meet Shaymaa independently.


5. (C) Comment: The GOE has clearly registered our concern
about the Shaymaa case. Youssef's willingness to engage with
us on the details of the Shaymaa case, and his invitation to
us to raise other cases of concern in future, are welcome
developments. Without access to the sources for the Compass
Direct press releases, or to Shaymaa herself, it remains
difficult to judge the competing versions of events in the
Shaymaa case. We will continue to seek to meet with Shaymaa
herself or other witnesses.
RICCIARDONE