NOUR'S ASSETS REPORTEDLY TO BE TURNED OVER TO

C O N F I D E N T I A L CAIRO 000346 SIPDIS SIPDIS NSC FOR PASCUAL E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/21/2028 TAGS: PREL PHUM KDEM EG SUBJECT: NOUR'S ASSETS REPORTEDLY TO BE TURNED OVER TO GOVERNMENT-BACKED RIVAL REF: A. 2007 CAIRO 3168 ¶B. 2007 CAIRO 3527 Classified By: William R. Stewart, Minister-Counselor for Political and Economic Affairs, for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (SBU) Egypt's Political Parties Committee (PPC),chaired by ruling party head and Shoura Council speaker Safwat El Sherif, on February 19 reportedly issued a decision turning various assets of Ayman Nour (the imprisoned former presidential candidate and leader of the opposition Ghad party) over to Moussa Mustafa Moussa, the government-backed current leader of the Ghad party (per reftels, Moussa's take-over of the party was orchestrated through a recent series of court rulings and a PPC decision in his favor). ¶2. (SBU) According to some independent and opposition press reports, the PPC ordered the turnover to Moussa of Nour's assets, including his private home in the upscale Zamalek district of Cairo (where his wife and two teen age sons currently reside),his personal law offices, Ghad party headquarters on downtown Cairo's Talaat Harb square, as well as fifteen other Ghad party offices nationwide. However, an article in the aggressive pro-government daily Rose Al Youssef asserts that the PPC has not issued any new decree, but rather that Moussa filed a lawsuit requesting that he be empowered to take over all Ghad party offices, and the PPC sent the court an affidavit detailing the addresses of all of the offices. ¶3. (C) Gameela Ismail, Nour's wife, told us that the PPC had indeed taken a decision to turn over all of Nour's assets, including the family's home, to Moussa. She noted that she is spending "all day in court" on February 21, filing lawsuits trying to postpone the implementation of the PPC's alleged decision. We will meet with her on February 22 to try to get further details on the situation. Jones