TWO EGYPTIAN POLICE OFFICERS CONVICTED OF TORTURE;

UNCLAS CAIRO 003214 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS NSC STAFF FOR WATERS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PHUM PGOV EG SUBJECT: TWO EGYPTIAN POLICE OFFICERS CONVICTED OF TORTURE; HUMAN RIGHTS GROUPS CALL FOR FURTHER STEPS REF: 2006 CAIRO 7109 Sensitive but unclassified. Please protect accordingly. ¶1. (SBU) The November 5 conviction of two Egyptian police officers for the assault and sodomy of bus driver Imad El-Kabir (reftel) has received wide coverage in the Egyptian media. Judge Samir Abul Mati sentenced officers Islam Nabi and Reda Fathi, of the Boulaq Dakrour (Giza) police station, to three years in prison for the January 2006 attack on Kabir. The officers apparently chose to document their attack on Kabir by using a cell phone video camera. Although they initially used the video in an effort to humiliate and intimidate Kabir and his fellow bus drivers, the video clip soon leaked. The online images, accompanied by Kabir's anguished cries for mercy, created a media sensation in Egypt and beyond with their graphic depiction of the attack. ¶2. (SBU) Egyptian and international human rights groups have welcomed the conviction, and have called upon the GOE to take comprehensive and firm measures to stamp out what they say is a culture of police impunity. Our Egyptian human rights contacts, while applauding the convictions, have also noted that the three-year sentences were the minimum allowed under the law. Both officers faced up to 15 years in prison because of the brutal and sexual nature of the crime. ¶3. (SBU) The two police officers will remain in detention pending their appeal of the conviction, which is expected to take up to one year. According to several of our human rights contacts, they remain troubled by the fact that the police service has not yet formally discharged the convicted officers from service. RICCIARDONE