REFORMIST JUDGE ON NEW JUDICIARY LAW, SUCCESSION,

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 CAIRO 003526 SIPDIS SIPDIS NSC FOR PASCUAL E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/17/2037 TAGS: PREL KJUS PHUM KDEM EG SUBJECT: REFORMIST JUDGE ON NEW JUDICIARY LAW, SUCCESSION, AND HIS PERSONAL TRAVAILS REF: A. 2006 CAIRO 3006 ¶B. 2006 CAIRO 6374 ¶C. CAIRO 2601 Classified By: DCM Stuart E. Jones, for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (C) Summary: In a December 11 meeting Hisham Bastawisi told us that new legislation focused on financing of the judiciary must, by law, be passed by June 2008. One of the two judges at the center of the spring 2006 judges' crisis and a vocal advocate for judicial independence, Bastawisi underlined his deep distrust for the Minister of Justice. He is concerned that the proposed judicial authorities law, and other potential legislation, may set back the independence of Egypt's judges. Bastawisi views potential conditioning of Egypt's FMF as a positive development "both for Egypt and the U.S." End summary. ¶2. (C) Bastawisi was recently appointed a member of the International Human Rights Federation, an NGO apparently supported in part by the European Union and UNESCO. One of his first activities with the organization was to present a paper on human rights in Egypt at a December 3-4 conference in Geneva, where the UN special rapporteur on human rights was reportedly due to participate. After making the necessary travel arrangements and just days before his departure, Bastawisi said he received "some advice" from a "high-level GOE official" who advised that it would be unwise for him to go. The official reportedly suggested that Bastawisi could suffer the same fate Saad Eddin Ibrahim faces, some 20 private lawsuits in connection with his criticizing the Mubarak regime, and he has not returned to Egypt for several months. Bastawisi, who has sons in high school and college in Cairo, decided not to attend the Geneva conference, nor a mid-December conference in Athens on democracy in the Middle East. He hopes to travel abroad again in the future, but for now, will "wait until things settle a bit." -------------- Judicial Authorities Law -------------- ¶3. (C) On the judicial authorities draft law recently promulgated by Minister of Justice Mamdouh Marei, Bastawisi advised that a new law regarding the judiciary must pass by June 30, 2008, as the most recent judiciary law (passed in spring 2006) required that a mechanism setting up an independent budget for the judiciary be enacted by then. The draft law put forward by Marei was met by widespread criticism from Egyptian judges and human rights groups. The planned legislation revoked judicial immunity, did not provide for an independent budget for the judiciary, and gave the Minister of Justice full administrative control over all judicial bodies, thereby constraining judicial independence and increasing the executive's control over the judiciary. During the first week of December, President Mubarak reportedly ordered the draft legislation withdrawn. Marei and his staff are now working on a new draft. Bastawisi said Marei is also planning to put forward a law that will ban any judge from speaking to journalists, or from being members of "political-type" organizations, which he took to mean civil society groups. Bastawisi was heartened by the unified response of Egypt's judges to Marei's most recent iteration of the law, but expects that the next draft will still contain a variety of noxious provisions. Bastawisi believes that Marei is targeting him personally: "He would get rid of me if he could, but he is scared to do so and potentially precipitate protests like in spring 2006." ¶4. (C) Bastawisi welcomed tying U.S. economic and military assistance to conditions for protecting judicial independence. Such conditionality "would be good for Egypt, but more importantly, it would be good for the U.S. It would give you back some credibility, demonstrating that you care about something other than just your interests. But, if conditions are imposed, you should list border security as the last condition, because otherwise the GOE will try to turn it all into 'The USG only cares about Israel.'" ¶5. (C) We asked Bastawisi if there had been any fall-out after he attended a mid-August dinner with the Ambassador (ref C). Bastawisi was appreciative of the opportunity to meet the Ambassador, but was disappointed that many of the details of the meeting were published in the press. He concluded that either the meeting had been taped, or one of the participants had gone straight to the security services or journalists after the event. He noted that he observed the entrance to the building where the dinner was held being CAIRO 00003526 002 OF 002 filmed when he entered and exited, and that "the entire block was crawling with State Security officers." Other than some journalists calling to berate him for meeting with the U.S. ambassador, Bastawisi said he did not receive any undue pressure following the dinner. Ricciardone