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### Viewing cable 10CAIRO197, Egypt: New Round of MB Arrests

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Reference ID | Created | Released | Classification | Origin
--- | --- | --- | --- | ---
10CAIRO197 | 2010-02-11 16:04 | 2011-01-28 00:12 | SECRET//NOFORN | Embassy Cairo

`

    VZCZCXRO1603
    OO RUEHROV
    DE RUEHEG #0197/01 0421609
    ZNY SSSSS ZZH
    O 111609Z FEB 10
    FM AMEMBASSY CAIRO
    TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 0228
    INFO ARAB ISRAELI COLLECTIVE IMMEDIATE
    RHEHNSC/WHITE HOUSE NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL WASHINGTON DC IMMEDIATE

` `

    S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 03 CAIRO 000197

    NOFORN
    SIPDIS

    E.O. 12958: DECL: 2020/02/11
    TAGS: PREL PGOV KISL PHUM EG
    SUBJECT: Egypt: New Round of MB Arrests

    REF: 2009 CAIRO 1467; 2009 CAIRO 2183; CAIRO 119

    CLASSIFIED BY: Donald A. Blome, Minister Counselor, DOS, Economic and
    Political Affairs; REASON: 1.4(B), (D)

    ¶1. Key Points:

    -- (U) Three senior leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) in Egypt
    including Deputy Supreme Guide Mahmoud Ezzat, Spokesman Essam El Eryan and MB "Mufti" Abdel Rahman El Barr were detained by security forces the morning of February 8 along with twelve other members of
    the MB.

    -- (C) According to media reports the group is being held "under
    investigation" for an initial period of 15-days.  MB sources tell
    us that the group was originally detained, and their homes
    searched, under the Emergency Law but that their detention will
    likely be justified under an "investigative file" that will opened
    to their lawyers next week.

    -- (C) There are no formal charges against those detained.  Media
    reports indicate that accusations under investigation include
    membership in a "banned" organization that threatens the "peace and
    security of the state" and spreading the "extremist ideas" of Sayed
    Qutb.  The detainees are reportedly not cooperating with
    investigators.

    -- (C) The arrests come in the lead-up to the 2010 parliamentary
    elections and during the MB's own internal elections for its
    100-man Shura Council, its legislative body.  They also follow
    recent internal MB elections for a new Guidance Bureau and a new
    Supreme Guide.

    ¶2. (S/NF) Comment:  Members of the MB's Guidance Bureau have been arrested several times in recent years.  However, the detention of
    these leading figures, including the newly elected Deputy Supreme
    Guide, seems to represent an escalation.  Most observers here see
    the move as part of a continuing GOE campaign to suppress the NDP's
    only significant political challenge ahead of upcoming
    parliamentary elections.  However, there is some danger that the
    move could backfire on the government, presenting an already
    weakened MB in a sympathetic light, and highlighting GOE insecurity
    ahead of elections.

    ¶3. (S/NF) Comment Continued:  It is unclear how the GOE will handle
    this case.  There is precedent for both the transfer of MB
    defendants to a military court and jail time in a military prison
    (as in the 2008 case against Deputy Supreme Guide Khariat El
    Shatter), and the release of defendants on bail after several
    months in detention while the investigation against them remains on
    the books (as in the November 2009 release of Guidance Bureau
    member Abdel Moneim Al Fotouh).  End Comment.

    ---------------------------

    New High Profile MB Arrests

    ---------------------------

    ¶4. (C) Three high-ranking members of the MB's Guidance Bureau (the
    group's 16-member administrative body) were detained by State
    Security forces with twelve other lower ranking members on the
    morning of February 8.  The group includes newly-named Deputy
    Supreme Guide Mahmoud Ezzat, MB spokesman (one of three
    recently-named spokesmen for the group) Essam El Eryan, and MB
    "Mufti" (or religious leader) Abdel Rahman El Barr.  A fourth
    member of the Guidance Bureau, Mohie Hamed, avoided arrest.
    According to Ikhwanweb, the MB's English-language website, Hamed
    has been ordered to appear before the Supreme State Security
    Prosecutor.  One of the twelve other MB detainees arrested along
    with them has reportedly been transferred to a hospital for heart

    CAIRO 00000197  002 OF 003

    surgery following a heart attack during his arrest.  MB sources
    have reported to the media that those detained have declined to
    give any statements to investigators.   These latest high-profile
    arrests come amid continued reports of arrests of dozens of rank
    and file MB members outside of Cairo reportedly as they gather in
    preparation for elections of the MB's 100-man Shura Council (the
    group's legislative body) scheduled for April 2010.

    -------

    Charges

    -------

    ¶5. (C) No formal charges have been announced by the Public
    Prosecutor.  MB Parliamentary Bloc leader and Spokesman Saad
    Katatni told PolOff on February 10 that the group was originally
    detained, and their homes searched, under the Emergency Law (Ref
    A), but said he expected any "investigation" or "prosecution" would
    be conducted according to the criminal code.  Katatni said lawyers
    for the detained have been told they will be given access by the
    Prosecutor to the "investigative file" against the group next
    Tuesday February 16.  According to media reports the group remains
    in detention "under investigation" for the next 15 days (this can
    be renewed several times for a period of up to six months by the
    Prosecutor himself).  Charges under investigation include belonging
    to a "banned" organization that threatens the "peace and security
    of the state," a charge commonly made against detained members of
    the MB.  For the first time members of the group have been charged
    with participation in a faction of the MB that adheres to the
    "takfiri" or "un-Islamic" doctrine of Sayed Qutb, which deems those
    who do not follow it "infidels" and thus, according to the Public
    Prosecutor, supports the formation of a military wing that would
    carry out armed resistance against the regime.  (Note: Qutb was
    executed by former President Nasser in 1966 for having led an
    attempt to violently overthrow the regime.  Both current Supreme
    Guide Mohammed Badie and now arrested Deputy Guide Ezzat were
    detained in 1965 along with Qutb.  They were later released by
    President Anwar Sadat.  End Note.)

    ¶6. (C) There is a precedent for long detentions of MB leaders while
    "under investigation."  Three other high-ranking members of the
    MB's Guidance Bureau, including Dr. Abdel Meneim Al Fotouh, were
    detained for several months in 2009 while "under investigation."
    (Ref B)  While all three have been released on bail, the cases
    against them are still pending (Ref C). (Note:  Fotouh was released
    in November 2009 and subsequently lost his seat on the MB's
    Guidance Bureau in December elections (Ref D). End Note).

    -----------

    MB Response

    -----------

    ¶7. (C) Reports of the arrests first surfaced the morning of
    February 8 on the MB's English-language website Ikhwanweb.  The
    following day (February 9) Ikhwanweb published an MB statement
    condemning the arrests.  In the statement the group said it
    believed the arrests were linked to MB support for "the resistance
    of the besieged people of Gaza" and are intended to "undermine
    participation by the group ahead of the legislative elections later
    this year."  The MB also affirmed that despite the arrests it will
    continue on its "missionary course" and the "path (it has) chosen
    for attaining the country's welfare" through "peaceful reformist
    methods despite...restrictions paced to liberties."  MB members
    were reportedly present in large numbers outside the offices of the
    Public Prosecutor on Tuesday February 9.  The group also staged a
    small protest in Suez against the ongoing detention of other MB
    members despite the end of their court-ordered detention period.

    --------------------------------------------

    MB Arrests as a Pre-emptive Political Strike

    CAIRO 00000197  003 OF 003

    --------------------------------------------

    ¶8. (C) MB lawyer Abdel Menem Abdel Maqsoud told the independent
    daily El Shorouk that he believed the GOE targeted MB
    "organizational leaders" like former MB Secretary General and now
    Deputy Guide Mahmoud Ezzat to hamper preparations for the Shura
    Council elections in June 2010 and the People's Assembly elections
    in November 2010.  He added that the level of the arrests sent the
    message that no one was immune.  Al Ahram Center for Political and
    Strategic Studies analyst Amr El Choubaki called the arrests a
    "pre-emptive strike to foil" MB election preparations.

    --------------------------------------------- ---------

    Prospects for MB Participation in a National Coalition

    --------------------------------------------- ---------

    ¶9. (C) According to political commentator, University Professor,
    and head of the "Coalition Against Succession" Hassan Nafaa, the
    arrests also were part of an effort to stop any potential
    coordination between the MB and other opposition political groups
    in the lead-up to the elections.  Before the arrests, Democratic
    Front Party XXXXXXXXXXXX confirmed to PolOff press
    reports that he and others were working with various political
    movements, including the MB, to form a unified national coalition
    under the banner of a "Conference for All Egyptians."  XXXXXXXXXXXX was surprised the intended conference had surfaced in the media after he and fellow organizer, XXXXXXXXXXXX, had taken pains to "quietly plan" for months.  XXXXXXXXXXXX confirmed the MB would be part of the effort.  Reporting on plans for an "All Egyptians" conference was included in press articles covering a February 3 event held by the Press Syndicate's Freedom Committee (headed by known MB member Mohamed Abdel Quddous) entitled the "Future of Egypt."  At the conference, which included among others an NDP MP and Harb, the now arrested Essam El Eryan reportedly told the group that the MB was willing to "make compromises for the sake of having a national coalition" to pursue "comprehensive reform."
    SCOBEY

`