RELIGIOUS FREEDOM DISCUSSION WITH EGYPT'S MFA

C O N F I D E N T I A L CAIRO 000485 SIPDIS DRL/IRF FOR COFSKY E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/22/2029 TAGS: PGOV PHUM PREL KIRF EG SUBJECT: RELIGIOUS FREEDOM DISCUSSION WITH EGYPT'S MFA REF: A. CAIRO 477 ¶B. CAIRO 453 Classified By: Minister-Counselor for Economic and Political Affairs William R. Stewart for Reasons 1.4(d). 1.(C) On March 22, we raised the case of Maher El Gohary, a convert from Islam to Christianity who filed suit in August 2008 seeking GoE recognition of his conversion, with Amin Meleika, Deputy Assistant Foreign Minister for North American Affairs (ref A). We alerted Meleika to U.S. interest in the case and our concern that the GoE and Egypt's court system respect Egypt's constitutional guarantee of religious freedom. We also expressed concern about courtroom security measures and El Gohary's inability to obtain a legal document because of harassment by a low-level GoE official. Meleika was not familiar with the case and had no substantive response but committed to look into it. 2.(C) We also discussed Egypt's Baha'is' efforts to obtain identification documents and the recent court decision removing legal obstacles to implementation of a 2008 ruling directing the GoE to issue documents to some Baha'is (ref B). We expressed our concern that the GoE move expeditiously to issue identification documents to the successful litigants. Again, Meleika had no substantive response. 3.(C) Comment: While we have previously discussed the El Gohary and Baha'i cases with the MFA's human rights office, we have found Meleika, because of his focus on the overall U.S.-Egyptian bilateral relationship, to be a useful interlocutor on religious freedom and other human rights issues. SCOBEY