US embassy cable - 05CAIRO4362

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 CAIRO 004362 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/08/2015 
TAGS: PGOV, PREL, KPAO, KISL, EG 
SUBJECT: GOE FORMALLY COMPLAINS ABOUT KORAN MISHANDLING 
AFTER STEADY, BUT MUTED, EGYPTIAN MEDIA COVERAGE 
 
REF: A. STATE 104406 
 
     B. CAIRO 3763 
     C. CAIRO 3647 
 
Classified by A/DCM Michael Corbin for reasons 1.4 (b) and 
(d). 
 
1. (C)  Summary:  Following media reports of Foreign Minister 
Aboul Gheit's condemnation of the alleged desecration of the 
Koran at the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, the MFA 
called the Charge to complain about the reported 
mistreatment, explaining that it had delayed comment until 
the USG had completed its internal investigation.  Egyptian 
media coverage of the alleged desecration has been steady, 
but muted, perhaps due to the timing of the story, which 
coincided with an historic referendum to change the 
presidential election process.  Most media outlets offered 
straightforward reports on the story and the subsequent 
investigation, without much editorializing.  Religious and 
anti-American publications took a predictably stronger tone, 
theorizing that USG denials were untrue.  Comments made by 
the Grand Imam of Al Azhar and the Egyptian FM were widely 
reported, while one columnist used the incident to criticize 
regional leaders.  End summary. 
 
2. (U)  Recent Egyptian press reports highlighted comments 
from Egyptian Foreign Minister Aboul Gheit condemning the 
desecration of the Koran, and from the Organization of the 
Islamic Conference Secretary General stating that he had 
asked the USG to try soldiers involved in the alleged 
Guantanamo incidents.  The June 6 edition of Al Ahram 
reported that Aboul Gheit, "speaking to the Foreign Affairs 
and Arab Affairs (parliamentary) committees, in what is 
considered the first official Egyptian reaction to the 
desecration from the Egyptian Government, denounce(d), 
tremendously, the desecration of the Koran and condemn(ed) 
all who took part in this work ....  He added that the 
Egyptian Foreign Ministry is currently dialoguing with the 
American side on the matter."  In addition, most dailies 
reported on June 8 new "revelations" that Israeli prison 
guards had used similar tactics of desecrating the Koran 
during Palestinian interrogations. 
 
3. (C) Following Aboul Gheit,s comments in Parliament that 
the GOE was "dialoguing" with the USG on the matter, Shadia 
Farrag, the Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs for 
American Affairs, called the Charge to deliver a demarche to 
the USG on Koran desecration at Guantanamo.  She stated that 
the GOE had not reacted to the original account in Newsweek 
of the allegations, choosing to wait for the USG to complete 
its own investigation.  The results of that investigation 
having been published, Farrag said the GOE now wanted to 
express its strong condemnation of any mistreatment of the 
Koran.  She added that the GOE perceived that the issue was 
causing popular outrage in Egypt.  (Comment: Post is aware of 
only two moderately-sized demonstrations on this issue, one 
outside Al Azhar Mosque in Cairo following Friday prayers on 
May 20 and the other in Alexandria on May 27.  End comment.) 
 
4. (SBU)  Egyptian media outlets widely reported factual 
accounts of the initial allegations of Koran desecration at 
Guantanamo Bay and subsequent investigations, with little 
editorializing.  The media's attention to the national 
referendum on an amendment to change the nature of 
presidential elections may partly explain the limited 
editorializing on the Koran desecration allegations. 
Opposition newspapers have devoted their pages to coverage of 
referendum-related violence and shortcomings of the amendment 
itself. 
 
5. (U)  In contrast to the mainstream media, the weekly 
journal Aqidatti, a moderate religious newspaper, and the 
nationalist, anti-American Al-Osboa (circulation: 70,000) 
repeatedly published reports about the allegations, including 
stories that USG statements that the Newsweek story was 
inaccurate were untrue.  One columnist in Al-Osboa of May 25 
claimed that the United States, by its actions, had launched 
a war against Islam.  Another, in the same issue, blamed the 
Egyptian Foreign Minister for failing to take a strong 
position on the alleged desecrations. 
 
6. (U)  Aqidatti and Al Azhar newspaper (both limited in 
distribution) focused much of their reporting on the reaction 
of Sheikh Tantawi, the Grand Imam of Al Azhar, who, they 
reported, sent an official request for information to the 
U.S. Department of State.  Both papers reported that the 
State Department responded to the Grand Imam and assured him 
that the allegations of desecration were untrue.  Aqidatti 
claimed that this assurance was a lie.  (Note:  We understand 
that the Department received such a request via the Egyptian 
Embassy in Washington.  Embassy Cairo has not initiated, and 
is not aware of, any USG response.  End note.)  On June 4, Al 
Ahram reported that the Grand Imam would be sending a second 
letter to the Department for further information following 
the release of the investigation report.  On June 8, the 
religious weekly publication, Lewa Islami, carried a 
front-page story that Sheikh Tantawi, in a statement to the 
newspaper, said that he had asked the U.S. to punish those 
who had committed these crimes against the Koran, adding that 
a strong punishment would be the only way to ensure these 
acts were not repeated.  He called on the U.S. to apologize 
to the entire Arab world. 
 
7. (U)  While many newspaper columnists used the story to 
criticize USG lack of respect for Islam, a columnist in the 
liberal weekly Al-Dustur (circulation: 70,000) wrote that 
Arab leaders had used the Guantanamo story to distract their 
people from local problems and to re-invent themselves as 
political and religious leaders.  Khalid Salah rejected 
"those who use the Koran to serve their political interests 
and use all holy concepts as their primary lines of defense 
to defend their thrones and their seats of power." 
 
 
Visit Embassy Cairo's Classified Website: 
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/cairo 
 
You can also access this site through the 
State Department's Classified SIPRNET website. 
 
GRAY