PARLIAMENTARY MINISTER DETAILS COMING LEGISLATION

C O N F I D E N T I A L CAIRO 001560 SIPDIS NSC FOR PASCUAL E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/21/2018 TAGS: PREL PGOV PTER PHUM KDEM EG SUBJECT: PARLIAMENTARY MINISTER DETAILS COMING LEGISLATION REF: A. CAIRO 397 ¶B. CAIRO 1066 Classified By: Ambassador Margaret Scobey, for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (C) Summary: In a July 20 meeting, Minister of State for Parliamentary and Legal Affairs Mufeed Shehab detailed for the Ambassador priority legislation that will come before Egypt's parliament when the new legislative session opens in mid-November. According to Shehab, Egypt's delayed anti-terror law will be the first item on the legislative agenda. A new local administrative law focused on decentralization is also expected to be passed, along with a controversial new broadcasting law. End summary. ¶2. (C) Shehab noted that despite his work for two years as chair of the 25-member interagency drafting committee of the anti-terror law, the committee had been unable to resolve "differing views" before May 31 (the previous deadline for the anti-terror law to be passed by parliament). Egypt's Emergency Law had thus been re-extended for another two years, or until the new anti-terror legislation is approved by parliament (ref B). Shehab was certain that, although still unresolved, interagency differences could be settled in time to put the anti-terror law before the People's Assembly this fall. According to Shehab, the second law the GOE would propose to legislators is the new local administrative law, which would enact a variety of decentralization initiatives. ¶3. (C) In response to a query from the Ambassador, Shehab affirmed that the GOE also plans to move forward with a new audio and visual broadcasting law in the coming parliamentary session. A draft of the law was recently published in the independent daily Al Masry Al Yom, and has precipitated a wave of criticism from independent and opposition journalists, who fear that the law will restrict freedom of the press (Note: The law would create a National Agency for the Regulation of Audio and Visual Transmission, composed of representatives of various Egyptian ministries, including the Ministry of the Interior. Independent journalists and human rights advocates fear that the new agency would act as a censor. End note). ¶4. (C) Shehab confirmed that the text published by Al Masry Al Yom was in fact the draft law that Minister of Information Anas Al Fiqqi had prepared, and that Al Fiqqi had drawn extensively from the ideas put forward in the Arab League's "Media Project," which was approved by Arab League Information Ministers on February 11 (ref A). Shehab described the new law as working to "reconcile freedom of information with the need to control the establishment of some TV channels which threaten Egypt's national security." Highlighting international attention to the law, the Ambassador replied that the current level of press freedom was a credit to Egypt, and that she hoped Shehab and others would work to ensure that the new law would not stifle that freedom. She recommended that the new law very narrowly define what might pose a national threat, such as pornography or violent extremism, rather than using broad or vague terminology that might allow for varying interpretations. Shehab agreed that precise language in the law would prevent "misinterpretations" when it is implemented. He asserted that the new law will "appropriately balance" freedom and national security, and will allow for "maximum freedom of the press, with some controls." ¶5. (C) Shehab commented that other legislation on the parliamentary agenda will include a health insurance law providing for insurance coverage for all Egyptians, a nuclear energy law which Shehab said had already been reviewed and approved of by the IAEA, amendments to the education law regarding the accreditation of universities, and legislation regarding the protection of national monuments. ¶6. (C) In addition to his ministerial duties, Shehab also serves as one of the three assistant secretaries-general of the National Democratic Party (NDP). The Ambassador raised the continuing efforts of the National Democratic Institute and the International Republican Institute to get registered in Egypt, and highlighted the training and cooperation that they could undertake to benefit the NDP, along with other Egyptian political parties. Shehab said that he "personally' welcomed the institutes, but that "some" in the NDP had negative impressions of their work and "strong feelings" about them. He asked that the Ambassador send him briefing papers detailing the role, background, and activities of NDI and IRI so that he can work to clear up the "fogginess" surrounding the two institutes. SCOBEY