QURANIST BARRED FROM TRAVEL TO U.S.

C O N F I D E N T I A L CAIRO 000713

SIPDIS

DRL/IRF FOR COFSKY; NSC STAFF FOR KUMAR

E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/27/2029
TAGS: PHUM PGOV PREL KIRF KISL EG
SUBJECT: QURANIST BARRED FROM TRAVEL TO U.S.

REF: A. CAIRO 134

B. 07 CAIRO 1938

Classified By: Counselor for Economic and Political Affairs
Catherine Hill-Herndon for Reason 1.4 (d).


1. KEY POINTS:

-- (SBU) On April 24, Egyptian security officials prevented
Abdel Latif Mohamed Saied from boarding a flight to the
United States. Saied, a member of the heterodox Islamic
Quranist movement, intended to travel to Washington to
participate in the Center for the Study of Islam and
Democracy's 10th Annual Conference.

-- (SBU) In June 2007, Saied and four other Quranists were
arrested, charged with "religious defamation," and then
released in October 2007 (ref B). Saied is the half-brother
of Ahmed Sohby Mansour, an Egyptian who is director of the
U.S.-based International Quranist Center.

--------------
Saied Stopped at Cairo Airport
--------------


2. (C) According to Ahmed Samih, the Director of Al Andalus
Institute for Tolerance which in the past has provided legal
representation to Egypt's Quranists, Saied had completed
departure formalities and was waiting at Cairo International
Airport to board a flight to Washington when Egyptian
security officials approached him. The officials told Saied
that he would not be allowed to travel until he met with the
official responsible for his "file," explained to him the
reasons for his travel, and received GoE approval. According
to Samih, Saied left the airport and does not intend to meet
with GoE officials regarding his travel plans.


3. (C) Samih said that when Saied was detained in 2007, he
was physically mistreated. As a condition of his release,
Saied was required to meet periodically with an Egyptian
security official, but that Saied has not done so and has
instead tried to avoid all contact with the government.
Until his experience at the airport, Saied had managed to do
so, although he was aware that GoE security officials were
regularly questioning neighbors about his activities,
creating in Samih's words, "a threatening environment."


4. (C) According to Samih, Saied may pursue legal action in
hopes of obtaining permission to travel.

--------------
Who Are the Quranists?
--------------


5. (C) The Quranist movement is a small, heterodox Muslim
group that looks to the Koran as the sole basis for Islamic
law and rejects reliance on Sunna and Hadith (the sayings and
doings of the Prophet Mohammed.) The group is not well known
in Egypt, and many adherents appear to be members of the
extended family of Ahmed Sohby Mansour. Mansour and other
Quranists were previously affiliated with the reform-oriented
Ibn Khaldoun Center, founded by democracy activist Saad Eddin
Ibrahim. In October 2008, Egyptian authorities arrested
Quranist blogger Reda Abdelrahman, another relative of
Mansour's, reportedly mistreated him, and then released him
in January 2009 (ref A).


SCOBEY