Cablegate: Egypt: Bahai Case Postponed Until December 2

VZCZCXRO6322
OO RUEHROV
DE RUEHEG #6953 3261149
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 221149Z NOV 06
FM AMEMBASSY CAIRO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 2680
INFO RUEHXK/ARAB ISRAELI COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC PRIORITY

UNCLAS CAIRO 006953

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

NSC STAFF FOR WATERS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM KIRF EG
SUBJECT: EGYPT: BAHAI CASE POSTPONED UNTIL DECEMBER 2

REF: CAIRO 6756

Senstive but unclassified. Please protect accordingly.

1. (SBU) As anticipated (reftel), on November 20 Egypt's
Supreme Administrative Court (SAC) again postponed the GOE's
appeal of an April 4 decision by a lower administrative
court, which had ruled that Egypt's Baha'is have the right to
receive GOE identity cards. The SAC acknowledged receipt of
the Commissioner's Advisory Report (reftel), which clears the
way for substantive oral arguments by the two sides. The
next hearing in the case is scheduled for December 2.

2. (SBU) Poloff's attendance at the November 20 hearing
generated substantial interest from the local press in
attendance, and prompted an objection in the courtroom from
Islamist lawyer Nabih El-Wahsh, who is supporting the GOE's
appeal of the case. Wahsh protested to the five judge panel
that "foreigners from the American Embassy" were present.
The chief judge reminded Wahsh that the hearing was open to
the public. Later, as poloff exited the courtroom at the
conclusion of the hearing, Wahsh and approximately a dozen
supporters yelled insults at the Embassy, the USG, and
President Bush.

3. (SBU) Several local newspapers, including Al-Wafd and
Rose El-Yousef, ran brief factual reports on November 21
regarding the postponement of the case and noting the angry
reaction of lawyer Wahsh to poloff's presence in the
courtroom.

4. (SBU) Comment: Wahsh is notorious in Egyptian legal
circles for his advocacy of various Islamist causes. In
2001, for example, he filed an unsuccessful lawsuit seeking
to order the divorce of Nawaal Al-Sadawi, the famous feminist
writer, from her husband on the grounds that Sadawi had
blasphemed Islam. Wahsh has also unsuccessfully advocated
for the resignation of the Shaykh Al-Azhar for meeting with
the Israeli Chief Rabbi, and has involved himself in several
efforts to ban "un-Islamic" books and to censor their authors.
RICCIARDONE

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