RESPONDING TO THE LIKELY CONVICTION OF MUSLIM

C O N F I D E N T I A L CAIRO 003018 SIPDIS SIPDIS NSC FOR SINGH AND WATERS E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/26/2027 TAGS: PREL PGOV PHUM KISL KDEM EG SUBJECT: RESPONDING TO THE LIKELY CONVICTION OF MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD ACTIVISTS BY A MILITARY TRIBUNAL REF: A. CAIRO 1361 ¶B. CAIRO 2683 ¶C. CAIRO 2808 Classified By: Charge d'Affaires Stuart E. Jones, for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (SBU) The military trial of 40 Muslim Brotherhood (MB) members has lurched along sporadically since April 26, in fits of stops and starts. Observers, the defendants' family members, and sometimes even defense lawyers have been barred from the court, which convenes at a military base outside of Cairo. Only 33 of the MB defendants are in custody; the other seven are being tried in abstentia. Among those in custody and on trial is the MB's third-most senior official, Second Deputy Supreme Guide Khairat Al Shatir. The charges reportedly include money laundering and planning terrorist actions in support of the MB. ¶2. (C) It is unclear when a ruling will be handed down. But conviction is a near certainty. The regime has ignored four decisions by various civil courts that ruled against the use of military tribunals, and ordered the release of the detainees (ref C). Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and numerous Egyptian human rights organizations and democracy activists have all publicly condemned the MB military trials. ¶3. (C) Several civil society contacts have noted a U.S. "double standard," in that we have not commented on the detentions and military trials of MB members, in contrast to our strong public statements about imprisoned Al Ghad party leader Ayman Nour, and Egyptian blogger Abdel Karim Nabil Soliman. Our critics include "mainstream" liberal dissidents such as democracy advocate Saad Eddin Ibrahim, leaders of the Wafd party (Egypt's oldest liberal party),Osama al Ghazali Harb (founder of the new liberal Democratic Front Party), Hisham Bastawisi (one of the judges at the center of the spring 2006 crisis between the judiciary and the GOE over election fraud),Tarek Heggy (an influential liberal intellectual and writer),and the heads of virtually every Egyptian human rights organization, to name just a few. We have explained our position that we specifically refrain from publicly commenting on ongoing legal proceedings. Post recommends, however, that upon the likely conviction of the MB defendants, we issue a statement criticizing both the process and outcome of the military tribunals. A suggested draft statement follows. Begin draft statement: We are concerned by the recent conviction of forty Egyptian civilians, for allegedly engaging in money laundering and planning terrorist activities in support of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood. The conduct of these trials in a closed military tribunal, despite several previous rulings by civil courts to release the defendants, raises serious due process and human rights concerns. We are also concerned by the ongoing detention of hundreds of Egyptians under the auspices of Egypt's Emergency Law, who have not yet been tried, yet remain imprisoned. JONES