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