EGYPT'S COURTS CONTINUE TO CONVICT POLICE IN ABUSE

UNCLAS CAIRO 000031 SIPDIS SIPDIS SENSITIVE NSC STAFF FOR PASCUAL E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PHUM PGOV EG SUBJECT: EGYPT'S COURTS CONTINUE TO CONVICT POLICE IN ABUSE CASES REF: CAIRO 3214 Sensitive but unclassified. Please protect accordingly. ¶1. (U) On January 4, an Alexandria court reportedly convicted a police major and two junior policemen of abusing a detainee in April 2007. The major reportedly ordered his men to beat the detainee and then force him to appear publicly in women's clothes. The court sentenced the major to five years in prison. The two lower-ranking officers received one-year sentences. The three are apparently in jail and have the right to appeal. ¶2. (U) This is the third instance since November of an Egyptian court convicting police officers for abusing detainees. On November 5, two police officers were convicted of sodomizing a bus driver and sentenced to three years in prison (reftel). According to media reports, on November 27, three policemen were convicted of beating a man to death in a police station in the Nile Delta city of Mansoura and sentenced to seven years in prison. ¶3. (SBU) Our human rights contacts view this case as a positive development. A local representative of Human Rights Watch said that while he is not yet ready to declare this a "trend," he found this case to be a "very interesting development." A human rights lawyer told us that a few years ago, he never would have dreamt of a police officer being sentenced to prison. He called the conviction a "great way" to start 2008. He also said that the five-year sentence will result in the major's dismissal from the police force. Another human rights activist praised the Ministry of Interior's internal affairs unit and said he recently had noticed a change in police officers' behavior when he visited stations. He also found it noteworthy that the length of the sentence will probably result in the major's dismissal. Ricciardone