GLOBAL PATRIOT: VICTIM'S RELATIVES INQUIRE INTO

C O N F I D E N T I A L CAIRO 001517

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR NEA FO AND NEA/ELA
OSD FOR PDASD COULTER
MANAMA PLEASE PASS TO NAVCENT FOR VADM GORTNEY

E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/17/2018
TAGS: PARM PREL MOPS EG
SUBJECT: GLOBAL PATRIOT: VICTIM'S RELATIVES INQUIRE INTO
PAYMENT, STRESS FAMILY'S FINANCIAL HARDSHIP

REF: A. CAIRO 1403

B. CAIRO 1277

C. CAIRO 1259

D. CAIRO 1079 AND PREVIOUS

Classified By: Ambassador Margaret Scobey per 1.4 (b) and (d).


1. (C) On July 14, two relatives of the widow of Mohammed
Affifi, the victim in the Global Patriot incident, called us
unexpectedly to request a meeting, saying that they had
traveled from Port Suez to Cairo to see us. Before the
meeting, we advised MOD U.S. Affairs Deputy Chief Colonel
Abdullah Tawfiq that we would be seeing the family; Col.
Tawfiq passed the information to Assistant Minister of
Defense for Policy MG Al-Assar. On July 14, DOJ attache, OMC
JAG officer and poloff met with the widow's brother, Hussein
Mohammed Abd El Ayl, and a relative of the widow's mother,
Mohammed Fathi Mohammed, a lawyer in Port Suez, who has
assumed the role of spokesman for the family. (Note: We
last met with these relatives May 27, per ref D. End note.)


2. (C) Mohammed Fathi Mohammed said that the widow and her
two small children are in desperate financial straits, and
expressed the family's disappointment that the U.S. has not
yet been able to provide any payment. Mohammed noted that
the family continues to receive many calls from lawyers in
the U.S. wanting to represent them in a suit against the USG,
but he emphasized that the family prefers to deal directly
with the embassy. Mohammed asked us to explain the reason
for the delay in providing payment when the family is
suffering after losing its sole breadwinner, Mr. Affifi.
Mohammed asked whether the family could do anything to speed
up the process.


3. (C) We expressed our condolences to the family, and
without mentioning any sum, said that some funds would soon
be available to alleviate the family's difficulties. We
stressed that the matter is a priority for us and that senior
U.S. officials have traveled to Egypt to discuss this issue
with the MOD. We committed to continued contact with the
family to brief them on developments concerning the payment.


4. (C) Comment: Per ref A, we remain convinced of the need
for relatively limited funds to hire a local attorney to work
with an Egyptian court to ensure that the payment is provided
directly to the widow and children of Mr. Affifi through
court-supervised accounts, and to draft a litigation release
for the family to sign. Without funds for a local attorney,
we will face great difficulty in ensuring that the payment
reaches Mr. Affifi's widow and children in accordance with
Egyptian law, and in securing a release to pre-empt future
litigation. Moreover, a court-supervised account could
protect the widow from claims and possible threats by other
family members.
SCOBEY