EGYPT: LEADING KEFAYA ACTIVIST DETAINED

C O N F I D E N T I A L CAIRO 000730 SIPDIS SIPDIS NSC FOR PASCUAL E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/10/2028 TAGS: PREL PGOV PHUM KDEM PINR EG SUBJECT: EGYPT: LEADING KEFAYA ACTIVIST DETAINED REF: A. CAIRO 697 ¶B. CAIRO 715 Classified By: DCM Stuart E. Jones, for reason 1.4 (d). ¶1. (SBU) On the evening of April 9, Egyptian police detained George Ishaaq, a founder and leading member of the opposition "Kefaya" (Enough) movement (also known as the "Egyptian Movement for Change"),and are currently holding him in the Tagammu al Khamis State Security Prosecutor's facility. No formal charges have been filed yet, as far as we know. According to other activists, state security officers first searched Ishaaq's downtown Cairo home, and then arrested him. Ishaaq had spent the day preparing for an upcoming Kefaya-sponsored conference about the recent demonstrations in Mahalla (refs A and B). Kefaya was among the groups that called for a general strike on April 6 (ref A). ¶2. (C) On April 10, we telephoned the current head of Kefaya, Abdel Wahab al Messiri (strictly protect),who stated that it is Kefaya policy to not speak with U.S. diplomats, "as anyone who extends their hand to the U.S. government gets burned because of your imperialistic behavior." He had no further details on Ishaaq's arrest, but did say that, "speaking in my personal capacity, with no endorsement from Kefaya," a USG statement condemning Ishaaq's arrest, as well as the recent detentions of other activists, "would be helpful." He noted that ideally, any U.S. comment would not mention Ishaaq by name, but would rather broadly criticize the detention of Egyptians nationwide, in connection with the April 6 strike. (Note: Precise numbers of arrests over the last few days remain unclear. Local human rights groups estimate that in the lead-up to and aftermath of April 6, at least 38 have been arrested in Cairo, 76-320 in Mahalla, and approximately 74 elsewhere in Egypt. Among those arrested in Cairo was Israa Abdel Fattah, a young Ghad party member, who originally called for the strike on the internet social networking site Facebook. The Facebook group she launched attracted almost 70,000 members, and Abdel Fattah was reportedly arrested on April 6 while sitting in a downtown Cairo cafe. End note). Messiri said that Kefaya had no formal information yet on the charges against Ishaaq, but that he anticipated "incitement" of the April 6 strike would top the list. ¶3. (SBU) Biographic Note: We believe Ishaaq is in his late sixties. A diabetic, he requires daily medication (the police removed a supply of his medicine from his home upon his arrest, and reportedly brought it to the facility where he is being held). He was formerly the general coordinator of "Kefaya" (the group's top leadership position),but since 2007 has served as one of the organization's four assistant general coordinators. In addition to his work with "Kefaya," he heads the media and cultural department of the General Assembly for Catholic Schools. RICCIARDONE