EGYPT: INPUT ON DISCUSSIONS OF THE COMPLEMENTARY

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 CAIRO 002798 SIPDIS SIPDIS G FOR FERRAO, AND S/P FOR VOLKER E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/12/2027 TAGS: PREL PGOV KDEM KISL EG SUBJECT: EGYPT: INPUT ON DISCUSSIONS OF THE COMPLEMENTARY NATURE OF ISLAM AND DEMOCRACY REF: SECSTATE 116583 Classified By: DCM Stuart E. Jones, for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (C) Per reftel request regarding Egypt's planned participation in the mid-November Community of Democracies ministerial in Mali, on September 16 the staff of Ambassador Raouf Saad, the MFA's BMENA coordinator (who also handles CD matters),told poloff that the MFA "had just received notification" of the Mali meeting within the last few days, and had not yet made a decision about attendance. ¶2. (C) In response to reftel's other action requests, we have compiled the below list of Egyptian "public intellectuals" who have spoken publicly in support of democracy and/or on the complementary nature of Islam and democracy. - Saad Eddin Ibrahim (noted Egyptian democracy activist and head of the Ibn Khaldun Center, a prominent Egyptian civil society organization). Ibrahim is a provocative figure in Egypt, who has recently been the target of a vigorous smear campaign largely in the government-backed media, and is currently outside of the country, due to concerns about his possible arrest. His advocacy tends to focus on democracy itself, rather than the compatibility of Islam and democracy. But he has frequently advocated for a more tolerant state approach to political Islam in the context of promoting democratic reform. He has also argued in publications that the West's distrust of political Islam is unfounded. But Ibrahim's approach also leads him to apologize for Hizbollah and Hamas, both of whose leadership he has visited recently. - Gamal Al Banna (independent Islamic reformer and brother of MB founder Hassan Al Banna, although Gamal is not a member of the MB). Al Banna has spoken publicly of the need to "re-orient the ongoing public discourse on Islam towards the goal of promoting compatibility and concordance in the modern world," noting that he views the main points of convergence between Islam and democracy as intellectual freedom and economic justice. Al Banna argues that "if democracy is a mechanism to strengthen freedom and uphold justice, it agrees with Islam. Where the two diverge, however, is that Islam's basic law is the Koran, whereas democracy is guided by human reason." Al Banna is an independent reformer and sometime-media commentator; it is difficult to gauge the scope of his influence. - Fahmy Howeidy (leading moderate Islamist columnist, writing in the national daily Al Ahram and syndicated to seven other Arab publications). A supporter of democracy, Howeidy argues that, "in an Islamic state, God is the source of law (through Shari'a),but the nation is the source of authority, holding its rulers accountable to it .... The final judge must be the ballot box .... The Islamic state is a democracy where faith becomes a basic frame of reference." Howeidy is sometimes accused of being an apologist for terrorist groups, as he has not explicitly denounced violence, arguing rather that, "When you talk of the militancy of extremist groups, why not also talk of the violence of the state versus these groups, and of the vicious circle that is creating them?" It is difficult to gauge the scope of Howeidy's influence, but he is one of Egypt's most prominent Islamist commentators, and his articles reach a wide audience. - Osama Al Ghazali Harb (editor-in-chief of "International Relations," the Egyptian equivalent to "Foreign Affairs," and secretary-general of the newly-formed Democratic Front Party, SIPDIS a liberal opposition party). A vocal secular democracy advocate, Harb is influential largely within a narrow section of Cairo's elite, not with the broader Egyptian population. - Hala Mustafa (editor-in-chief of "Democracy Review Political Quarterly" and member of the ruling National Democratic Party's influential Policies Committee). Mustafa, similar to Harb, focuses on the value of secular democracy rather than the compatibility of Islam and democracy. She does not appear to have much resonance with Egyptians writ large, but rather, has some influence within academic and elite circles in Egypt. - Bahieydeen Hassan (director of the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies). One of Egypt's most outspoken human rights defenders, Hassan is also a forceful advocate for secular democracy, who uses his NGO and regular newspaper commentaries to make the case for political reform in Egypt. Hassan does not have a significant popular following. - The Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood (MB),a moderate Islamist organization that is officially banned in Egypt but in CAIRO 00002798 002 OF 002 reality is uneasily tolerated by the government (although this toleration is punctuated by periodic GOE crackdowns against the group),has long embraced, both in theory and practice, the compatibility of Islam and democracy. In the past two decades, the MB has actively contested a variety of Egypt's various electoral races, and the MB currently holds 20 percent of the seats in the Egyptian parliament. Senior members of the group, including the MB's highest official, Mohamed Mehdy Akef, and his deputy, Mohamed Habib, have spoken out repeatedly in support of democracy, as have other influential members of the group, such as Guidance Council member Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh and leading MB moderate Essam El Erian. For almost three decades, the group has explicitly renounced violence, "condemning it whether it comes from individuals, groups, or states, or governments," and emphasizing the need for "peaceful, non-violent political reform." However, when it comes to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, this condemnation becomes notably less clear-cut, bogged down in definitions of "legitimate national resistance" versus "terrorism." Notably, Al Qaeda's Ayman Zawahiri publicly criticized the MB for participating in the 2005 Egyptian parliamentary elections, to which the MB's leadership publicly replied that "change and reform can only happen by peaceful means and through legal and constitutional channels. Resorting to force will open the doors wide for evil and create total chaos." The MB is unquestionably an influential force in Egypt. While the precise extent of the MB's weight in Egyptian society is difficult to measure, it is the most dynamic political opposition movement in Egypt, and MB candidates garnered the largest number of votes of any opposition party in the 2005 parliamentary elections. Critics suggest that the MB's embrace of democracy is opportunistic and that it would quickly abandon democratic principles if it was ever allowed to rise to power. Indeed, the MB is a diverse group, and numerous viewpoints appear to be represented within it. ¶3. (C) In terms of senior government officials, President Hosni Mubarak's 2005 election platform clearly laid out a conception of Egypt as a "democratic nation." However, his electoral promises regarding political reform have remained largely unrealized. RICCIARDONE