R 171527Z NOV 09

FM AMEMBASSY CAIRO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 4274

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 CAIRO
002164

SUBJECT: ACTIVISTS BELIEVE POLICE BRUTALITY

CONTINUES UNABATED; GOE CLAIMS OTHERWISE

REF: A. CAIRO 2064

¶B. CAIRO 1778
¶C. CAIRO 1182
¶D. CAIRO 814
¶E. CAIRO 451
¶F. CAIRO 243
¶G. CAIRO 79
¶H. 07 CAIRO 3214

Classified By: Economic-Political Minister-

Counselor Donald A. Blome for reasons 1.4 (b)
and (d).
1.KEY POINTS -- (C) Human rights lawyers believe
police brutality continues to be a pervasive,
daily occurrence in prisons, police stations and
Interior Ministry State Security (SSIS)
headquarters. -- (C) The lawyers assert that the
police and SSIS have adapted to increased media
and blogger focus on police brutality by hiding
the abuse and pressuring victims not to bring
cases. -- (C) The GOE and its supporters claim
that police brutality is unusual, and is
committed by a small minority of officers. --
(C) Human rights lawyers believe the GOE should
reduce pressure on officers to solve cases
immediately, allow suspects to be accompanied by
an attorney during questioning in police
detention, and amend the laws to increase the
penalties for brutality. We are working to
resume USG-funded human rights-oriented police
training.

2.(C) Comment: The NGOs' assessments are

credible, but largely impressionistic, based on
lawyers' contact with victims and review of
brutality cases. Although planned USG-funded
training would be a step forward, the overall
scope of police brutality will probably not
change until the GOE undertakes significant
procedural and possibly legislative reforms.
Following a landmark 2007 sentencing of police
officers for assaulting and sodomizing a bus
driver, courts have continued to sentence
officers to prison terms for brutality. End
comment.

--------- A Pervasive, Daily Problem ---------

3.(C) Human rights lawyers believe police

brutality continues unabated, or is increasing.
Attorneys from XXXXXXXXXXXX, which specializes
in brutality cases, asserted to us in October
that officers abuse detainees in "every police
station in Egypt." Contacts assess that the
current lack of press and blogger reports and
court cases is misleading, and only reflects MOI
success in avoiding detection and pressuring
victims not to bring cases. Multiple contacts
told us that NGOs are only aware of about 10
percent of actual brutality incidents. (Note:
These 10 percent estimates are speculative, and
do not appear to be based on any quantitative
study. The XXXXXXXXXXXX statistics appear to
support the contention of increased brutality.
XXXXXXXXXXXX documented 46 torture cases and 17
police brutality deaths from January 2008 to
February 2009, compared with 40 torture cases
and 3 police brutality deaths in 2007. End
note.)
------- Police Adapting to New Realities -------

4.(C) Contacts speculated that police brutality

incidents decreased slightly in 2007 due to the
sentencing that year of two police officers to
three years in prison for assaulting and
sodomizing bus driver Imad El-Kebir (ref H).
Prominent blogger Wael Abbas posted a cell phone
video of the assault on his blog, and the case
set off unprecedented media and blogger
attention on police brutality. Since the El-
Kebir case, courts have sentenced other officers
to prison time for brutality. Most recently, on
November 7 a court sentenced an officer to five
years in prison for beating a disabled man in
2008. Contacts assess that although the police
initially reacted to the El-Kebir conviction by
decreasing their abuse of detainees, the MOI
subsequently decided on a strategy of hiding
abuse from the public.

5.(C) Human rights lawyer XXXXXXXXXXXX told us

that the MOI's strategy stems from its belief
that officers need to rely on brutality to
extract confessions and solve crimes quickly.
CAIRO 00002164 002 OF 003 (Note: Egyptian law
requires the police to either release a suspect
after 24 hours of initial detention, or transfer
the suspect to the Public Prosecutor's Office
for investigation. Contacts believe that
officers face pressure from supervisors to
extract a confession within this 24 hour period.
End note.) XXXXXXXXXXXX asserted that in 2008
the MOI issued informal orders that resulted in
officers abusing prisoners between the hours of
3 AM and 6 AM so that members of the public
would be less likely to witness or hear the
abuse.

6.(C) According to XXXXXXXXXXXX, the police

threaten their victims with increased detention
to dissuade them from filing cases. Many
victims, XXXXXXXXXXXX said, have been involved
in criminal activity, and the police can easily
keep them in detention. An example of the police
successfully using this tactic is a February
2009 case of video-recorded police sodomy in
Cairo, which Wael Abbas posted on his blog (ref
F). XXXXXXXXXXXX told us at the time that the
victim signed a statement that the recording was
fabricated in exchange for his release (ref C).
XXXXXXXXXXXX said the MOI has also begun a
campaign of engaging with the press to convince
journalists not to publish stories alleging
police brutality. According to XXXXXXXXXXXX, MOI
officers offer to be sources on non-brutality
related stories if newspapers agree not to
publish brutality allegations.

-------- Worse Brutality Outside Cairo --------

7.(C) Lawyers from XXXXXXXXXXXX told us that

police offices in smaller cities or villages
believe they have more power and less
accountability, and therefore abuse suspects
more. XXXXXXXXXXXX assessed that abuse is
especially pronounced in rural villages where
police victimize the poor who have little access
to legal representation. XXXXXXXXXXXX told us
that police brutality is worse in Alexandria
than in Cairo because officers are less worried
about detection in the relatively lax media
environment. XXXXXXXXXXXX described a July case
where officers intervened on behalf of a
"politically-connected" landowner to arrest and
abuse the guards of his rival in a real estate
dispute.

--------- The GOE's Version of Events ----------

8.(C) GOE officials tell us that police

brutality is unusual, and is committed by a
small number of young officers who are
immediately punished. In March, the Interior
Minister told the Ambassador that police
brutality only occurs in "isolated incidents."
He also disputed the EOHR's claim of 13 deaths
in police stations over the previous 8 months,
saying that the deaths resulted from natural
causes (ref E). In October, MFA Deputy Director
for Human Rights Omar Shalaby repeated to us the
same position that there is no pattern of police
brutality.

9.(C) GOE supporters also promote this position.

Ambassador Ahmed Haggag, detailed from the MFA
to direct the UN Development Program's (UNDP)
human rights training, asserted to us in October
that police brutality is decreasing because of
his work and increased public awareness. The
UNDP program includes lectures for police
officers on the illegality of abuse, but human
rights contacts assess that these efforts are
not effective. The Al-Naqib Center NGO, whose
director is believed to be close to SSIS, issued
a Freedom House-funded report in September on
police brutality in three governorates, claiming
the project had "halted torture" in one Delta
Governorate. (Freedom House used USAID grant
money to fund the report, but selected and ran
the project independently of the USG.) The
report concludes by questioning whether torture
in police stations "still exists." Human rights
contacts criticized the report as completely
inaccurate.

--------------- The Way Forward ---------------

10.(C) Contacts have suggested to us several

ways the GOE could combat police brutality. They
believe the MOI needs to reduce pressure on
officers to extract quick confessions. Contacts
also stress that the police should allow
detained suspects to have a lawyer present
during questioning. Egyptian law does not
require that suspects detained at police
stations be accompanied by a lawyer during
questioning, and contacts assert that attorneys
currently CAIRO 00002164 003 OF 003 have "no
access" to suspects while they are in police
detention. The law does not delineate a
suspect's specific rights during police
detention, and activists believe the GOE should
enact amendments guaranteeing the right to
remain silent. Contacts favor legislative
changes to expand the definition of torture (the
law defines torture only in the context of
extracting confessions) and increase the
penalties, reforms which the National Council
for Human Rights recommended in May (ref D). We
are working with the MOI to resume USG-funded
human rights-oriented police training (ref B),
which we plan to focus on interrogation skills,
international standards and using moderate
force.
Scobey

(Edited and reformatted by Andres for ease of

reading.)