Viewing cable 09CAIRO79, GOE STRUGGLING TO ADDRESS POLICE BRUTALITY
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| Reference ID | Created | Released | Classification | Origin |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 09CAIRO79 | 2009-01-15 15:03 | 2011-01-28 00:12 | CONFIDENTIAL | Embassy Cairo |
C O N F I D E N T I A L CAIRO 000079
SIPDIS
DEPARTMENT FOR NEA/ELA, DRL/NESCA, INL AND INR/NESA
NSC FOR PASCUAL AND KUTCHA-HELBLING
E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/15/2029
TAGS: PGOV PHUM KDEM EG
SUBJECT: GOE STRUGGLING TO ADDRESS POLICE BRUTALITY
REF: A. 08 CAIRO 2431
¶B. 08 CAIRO 2430
¶C. 08 CAIRO 2260
¶D. 08 CAIRO 783
¶E. 07 CAIRO 3214
¶F. 07 CAIRO 2845
Classified By: Ambassador Margaret Scobey for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).
¶1. (C) Summary and comment: Police brutality in Egypt
against common criminals is routine and pervasive. Contacts
describe the police using force to extract confessions from
criminals as a daily event, resulting from poor training and
understaffing. Brutality against Islamist detainees has
reportedly decreased overall, but security forces still
resort to torturing Muslim Brotherhood activists who are
deemed to pose a political threat. Over the past five years,
the government has stopped denying that torture exists, and
since late 2007 courts have sentenced approximately 15 police
officers to prison terms for torture and killings.
Independent NGOs have criticized GOE-led efforts to provide
human rights training for the police as ineffective and
lacking political will. The GOE has not yet made a serious
effort to transform the police from an instrument of regime
power into a public service institution. We want to continue
a USG-funded police training program (ref F), and to look for
other ways to help the GOE address police brutality. End
summary and comment.
-------------------
A Pervasive Problem
-------------------
¶2. (C) Torture and police brutality in Egypt are endemic and
widespread. The police use brutal methods mostly against
common criminals to extract confessions, but also against
demonstrators, certain political prisoners and unfortunate
bystanders. One human rights lawyer told us there is
evidence of torture in Egypt dating back to the times of the
Pharaohs. NGO contacts estimate there are literally hundreds
of torture incidents every day in Cairo police stations
alone. Egyptians are bombarded with consistent news reports
of police brutality, ranging from high profile incidents such
as accidental but lethal police shootings in Salamut and
Aswan this past fall (refs B and C) that sparked riots, to
reports of police officers shooting civilians following
disputes over traffic tickets. In November 2008 alone, there
were two incidents of off-duty police officers shooting and
killing civilians over petty disputes. The cases against
both officers are currently making their way through the
judicial system.
¶3. (C) NGO and academic contacts from across the political
spectrum report witnessing police brutality as part of their
daily lives. One academic at XXXXXXXXXXXX who is a member of the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP)
policy committee told us of accompanying his sister to a
Cairo police station to report her stolen purse. In front of
this academic, the police proceeded to beat a female suspect
into confessing about others involved in the theft and the
whereabouts of the stolen valuables. A contact from an
international NGO described witnessing police beat the
doorman of an upscale Cairo apartment building into
disclosing the apartment number of a suspect. Another
contact at a human rights NGO told us that her friends do not
report thefts from their apartments because they do not want
to subject "all the doormen" in the vicinity to police
beatings. She told us that the police's use of force has
pervaded Egyptian culture to the extent that one popular
television soap opera recently featured a police detective
hero who beats up suspects to collect evidence.
¶4. (C) Contacts attribute police brutality to poor training,
understaffing and official sanction. Human rights lawyer
XXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX
speculated that officers routinely resort to brutality
because of pressure from their superiors to solve crimes. He
asserted that most officers think solving crimes justifies
brutal interrogation methods, and that some policemen believe
that Islamic law sanctions torture. XXXXXXXXXXXX commented that a
culture of judicial impunity for police officers enables
continued brutality. According to XXXXXXXXXXXX, "Police
officers feel they are above the law and protected by the
public prosecutor." Human rights lawyer XXXXXXXXXXXX attributed police brutality against common
criminals, including the use of electric shocks, to the
problem of demoralized officers facing long hours and their
own economic problems. He asserted that the police will even
beat lawyers who enter police stations to defend their
clients.
-----------------------
Criminals and Islamists
-----------------------
¶5. (C) XXXXXXXXXXXX explained that since the GOE opened a
dialogue with formerly violent Islamists, such as the Islamic
Group, following the 1997 Luxor terrorist attacks, torture of
Islamists has decreased. XXXXXXXXXXXX claimed that the GOE now treats Islamists better
than common criminals. Some Islamist detainees are
"spoiled," he asserted, with regular access to visits from
friends and family, decent food and education. Before the
Luxor attacks, XXXXXXXXXXXX commented, the government would torture
Islamist detainees on a daily basis.
¶6. (C) Attorney XXXXXXXXXXXXXX commented that the GOE is more
reluctant to torture Islamists, including Muslim Brotherhood
(MB) members, because of their persistence in making public
political statements, and their contacts with international
NGOs that could embarrass the regime. XXXXXXXXXXXX speculated that
the exception to this rule is when MB members mobilize people
against the government in a way the regime deems threatening,
such as the April 6 Facebook strike (ref D). According to
XXXXXXXXXXXX, the MB-affiliated blogger and "April 6 Movement" member
XXXXXXXXXXXX whom police arrested November 20 (ref A) falls
into this category, and the GOE is probably torturing him to
scare other "April 6" members into abandoning their political
activities. XXXXXXXXXXXX's assessment tracks with "April 6" member
XXXXXXXXXXXX's accounts of his own torture and the alleged
police sexual molestation of a female "April 6" activist this
past November (ref A). Bloggers close to XXXXXXXXXXXX told
us that following his arrest he was tortured severely with
electric shocks and needed to be hospitalized, but that
security forces stopped the torture when he began
cooperating.
----------------------------
GOE Awareness of the Problem
----------------------------
¶7. (C) Contacts agree that in the past five years, the
government has stopped denying that torture exists and has
taken some steps to address the problem. However, contacts
believe that the Interior Ministry lacks the political will
to take substantive action to change the culture of police
brutality. XXXXXXXXXXXX asserted that following alleged
standing orders from the Interior Ministry between 2000 and
2006 for the police to shoot, beat and humiliate judges in
order to undermine judicial independence, the GOE made a
political decision in 2007 to allow the courts to sentence
police officers to short prison terms. XXXXXXXXXXXX described the
2007 Imad El-Kebir case as a turning point in influencing the
government to permit the sentencing of police officers.
(Note: Per ref E, a court sentenced two police officers to
three years in prison in November 2007 for assaulting and
sodomizing bus driver Imad El-Kebir. The case gained
notoriety after a cell phone video recording of the torture
was posted on YouTube. End note.)
¶8. (C) An estimated 13 cases of officers accused of brutality
are currently working their way through the courts, and
judges have handed down moderate sentences, usually the
minimum three-year prison term, against policemen over the
past few months, often for heinous crimes. For example, in
October 2008, a court sentenced a policeman to three years in
prison for beating and drowning a fisherman. In November
2008, a court sentenced two policemen to three years in
prison for hooking a man to their car and dragging him to his
death. XXXXXXXXXXXXX characterized the sentences as
"light," in proportion to the crimes, but commented that any
prison sentences are an important development toward holding
the police responsible for crimes. XXXXXXXXXXXX commented
that the prison sentences demonstrate that the GOE is
providing political space for judges to operate somewhat
independently, in response to criticism from foreign
governments and international NGOs. XXXXXXXXXXXXX of the
Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights described the
sentences as important in drawing public attention to brutal
police crimes, and strengthening the hand of advocates who
call for reforming systemic problems within the police force.
-----------
GOE Efforts
-----------
¶9. (C) Ambassador Ahmed Haggag, who is detailed from the MFA
as the coordinator for the UNDP Human Rights Capacity
Building Project, described for us the organization's efforts
to train the Interior and Justice Ministries and the Public
Prosecutor on human rights issues through lectures and
workshops. Acknowledging that torture is a "problem, but not
a daily occurrence," Haggag said the UNDP trains police
officers on international human rights conventions, and is
trying to convince police officers to solve cases using
"legal and ethical means," instead of torture. Haggag told
us he "doubts there is still torture against political
prisoners." Staffers from the quasi-governmental National
Council for Human Rights described the council's workshops
for police officers where professors give lectures on human
rights law and prisoner psychology. NGO contacts have
privately criticized the UNDP project as ineffective,
complaining that it has banned credible human lawyers from
giving lectures to the police because of their political
opposition to the NDP, and instead invites MOI officials
complicit in torture to give human rights presentations.
¶10. (C) In late December 2008, the MOI announced it had
suspended 280 police officers for human rights violations and
fired 1,164 lower-ranking policemen for misconduct. Our NGO
contacts doubted that the disciplinary actions were human
rights related, and speculated that the officers were
probably involved in taking bribes and other illegal
activity. XXXXXXXXXXXX asserted that this announcement does
not amount to a serious MOI human rights policy. XXXXXXXXXXXXX expressed skepticism over whether these disciplinary
actions will result in long-term positive changes, especially
in light of rumors that one of the officers sentenced in the
2007 El-Kebir sodomy case will rejoin the police force as
soon as he leaves prison.
¶11. (C) Former senior Interior Ministry official Ihab
Youssef, Director of the NGO "The Police and the People for
Egypt" told us in late 2008 that his NGO did not receive many
proposals from the public in response to its solicitation for
ideas on developing projects to build trust between the
police and citizens. Youssef said that the NGO's Facebook
site, which provides a forum for the public to complain about
the police, has generated more interest. In September 2008,
Youssef publicly announced the formation of his NGO, which
counts establishment figures such as former FM Ahmed Maher
among its board members (ref C). Youssef does not receive
GOE funding for the NGO, and has turned to private Egyptian
businesses to raise money. Our NGO contacts have privately
dismissed Youssef's efforts as non-substantive "propaganda,"
and in a recent magazine article, one of Youssef's own board
members, retired Ambassador Shoukry Fouad, criticized the NGO
as unsuccessful.
-------
Comment
-------
¶12. (C) The GOE has not begun serious work on trying to
transform the police and security services from instruments
of power that serve and protect the regime into institutions
operating in the public interest, despite official slogans to
the contrary. It seems that the government would have the
strongest interest in preventing future accidental shootings
of innocents, such as the Salamut and Aswan incidents that
resulted in riots. We imagine that halting the torture of
common criminals, who are usually poor and voiceless, is
lower on the GOE's agenda. We want to continue USG-funded
police training, and we will look for ways to help XXXXXXXXXXXX's NGO launch productive work.
SCOBEY
VZCZCXYZ0003 RR RUEHWEB DE RUEHEG #0079/01 0151524 ZNY CCCCC ZZH R 151524Z JAN 09 FM AMEMBASSY CAIRO TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 1372 INFO RUEHXK/ARAB ISRAELI COLLECTIVE RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC
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