MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD: GOVERNMENT PREVENTS ANNUAL

C O N F I D E N T I A L CAIRO 002881 SIPDIS SIPDIS NSC FOR SINGH AND WATERS E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/23/2017 TAGS: PREL PGOV KISL KDEM EG SUBJECT: MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD: GOVERNMENT PREVENTS ANNUAL RAMADAN IFTAR REF: A. 2006 CAIRO 6254 ¶B. CAIRO 2683 Classified By: Minister-Counselor for Economic and Political Affairs, William R. Stewart, for reason 1.4 (d). ¶1. (SBU) For the first time in approximately twenty years, the government has prohibited the annual Ramadan iftar (fast-breaking meal) hosted by the leadership of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood (MB). Reportedly, the Interior Ministry refused to grant the MB permission to hold the yearly event (which was scheduled for September 22),and the group thus had to cancel arrangements it had already made with a local five-star hotel, where the iftar has been held in years past, but which is not allowed to hold such a large affair without the necessary approvals from state security. ¶2. (SBU) In past years, guests at the MB's iftar have numbered in the thousands, including luminaries from the leadership of the range of Egyptian political parties (including, in some years, ruling party members), intelligentsia, opposition movements, civil society, academics, and journalists (see ref A for details on the MB's 2006 iftar). The Interior Ministry has declined to comment publicly, but officials have reportedly privately confirmed to journalists that a "formal decision" was made to prevent the iftar. Local analysts speculate that a motivating factor in the government's decision was concern that the MB would use the event, particularly the expected A-list of attendees, as evidence that it is a de facto "legitimate organization," during the ongoing military tribunals of 40 leading MB members. ¶3. (SBU) The MB's leadership has been scathingly critical of the government's blocking of the iftar, and issued public statements "apologizing" to the invitees. In several media interviews over the past few days, MB Supreme Guide Mohamed Mehdy Akef has denounced the government's decision to prevent the iftar, asserting that, "They (the GOE) are even afraid of the iftars that we hold and regard them as a danger to national security .... Does it harm anyone for a few hundred national icons to meet over dinner? The government now restricts our moves and behaves with us as if we were enemies of the homeland. They do not know that we love Egypt and fear for it more than they do." ¶4. (SBU) Despite the decision to stop the main Cairo iftar, several other MB-sponsored local iftars have been held around the country, often at the premises of professional syndicates whose elected leadership is overwhelmingly from the MB. For instance, the MB's Alexandria branch held an iftar on September 19 at the Egyptian Bar Association office, which MB Deputy Supreme Guide Mohamed Habib attended. The MB's parliamentary bloc announced that it plans to host its first-ever iftar on September 30, at the premises of the Doctor's Syndicate in Cairo. ¶5. (C) Comment: The GOE's blocking of the MB's iftar is a further indication of the government's heightened sensitivity and concern about the Islamist organization, as well as an increased willingness to take tough measures against the group. As demonstrated by the progressively more aggressive campaign of arrests of MB members (ref B),the government's tolerance for the MB appears to be on the wane, motivated in no small part by insecurities about the MB's dynamism and popular appeal, and role as the torch-bearer of Egypt's political opposition. JONES