US embassy cable - 05CAIRO4917

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 CAIRO 004917 
 
SIPDIS 
 
NSC STAFF FOR POUNDS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/28/2015 
TAGS: PHUM, KDEM, EG, Ayman Nour 
SUBJECT: EGYPT: AYMAN NOUR TRIAL OFF TO CHAOTIC START 
 
 
Classified by ECPO Counselor John Desrocher for reasons 1.4 
(b) and (d). 
 
1. (C) Summary: The Ayman Nour trial opened on June 28 in a 
chaotic atmosphere, as hundreds of Nour's supporters (alleged 
by some to be a "rent-a-crowd") swarmed the courthouse 
shouting anti-GOE slogans and jostled with police as they 
attempted to access the courtroom.  Police prevented most 
from entering the courtroom but generally appeared to act 
with restraint.  After considerable confusion, described by 
Nour himself as a "circus," the court began its session, 
launching immediately into the substance of the case.  Nour 
entered a not guilty plea and his lawyers filed a petition 
for dismissal, citing procedural violations in the way Nour's 
parliamentary immunity was lifted.  The defense also filed a 
motion calling for three ministers to be summoned as 
witnesses.  Three of Nour's codefendants, whom Nour has 
condemned as government plants, entered guilty pleas.  The 
trial will resume on Thursday June 30.  End summary. 
 
2. (SBU) The trial of opposition party leader and 
presidential candidate Ayman Nour got off to a chaotic start 
on June 28.  The South Cairo Courthouse in the Bab al-Khalq 
district was surrounded by at least 40 police trucks, with 
hundreds police in riot gear deployed in concentric lines. 
The front entrance to the courthouse was blocked by hundreds 
of Ghad Party supporters and riot police containing them. 
The only way in or out of the courthouse was through a side 
door.  Large orange banners were mounted over the court's 
front door and across the street, carrying slogans such as 
"Judges: Hear the People's Voice - Ayman Nour is Innocent" 
"Justice for Ayman Nour!" and "No to Oppression: Change Now!" 
 
3. (SBU) Inside the courthouse, confusion prevailed for 
almost two hours as Nour, flanked by hundreds of supporters, 
proceeded to several different courtrooms, to which he was 
apparently denied entry.  The hundreds of Ghad Party 
supporters attempting to access the courtroom where they 
presumed the trial would occur scuffled with police, who used 
mace on several occasions.  Police observed by Emboffs 
generally acted with restraint, pushing back demonstrators 
who attempted to breach their lines, but refraining from 
using their batons.  At one point, Nour stood at a landing 
and addressed supporters on the steps below him:  "This is 
not a trial, this is a circus!  It is unacceptable that 
witnesses, lawyers, and journalists will not be admitted to 
the courtroom!" 
 
4. (C) Eventually, Nour and six codefendants (whom he claims 
were planted within the Ghad Party by state security in order 
to forge documents and thus create a criminal case against 
him) found their way to the defendant's cage and the trial 
proceeded in a stuffy courtroom packed with observers.  Most 
observers, including foreign diplomats and journalists who 
came to the courthouse, were unable to access the courtroom, 
as the path to the door was blocked by dozens of riot police. 
 A few diplomats managed to access the courtroom by climbing 
through a window.  Nour, who had been hustled around the 
court house in the middle of a scrum of hundreds of 
supporters, appeared pale and haggard when he took his seat 
in the cage. 
 
5. (C) Contrary to some predictions, the court immediately 
launched into discussion of the substance of the case.  Nour 
entered a plea of not guilty on charges of forging hundreds 
of signatures on a petition submitted to the GOE in support 
of the Ghad Party's license application.  Nour's lawyers 
filed a petition for dismissal of the case, citing violations 
of procedure in the manner Nour was stripped of his 
parliamentary immunity from prosecution.  Nour's lawyers also 
filed a motion calling for three cabinet members, Minister of 
Justice Mahmoud Aboul Leil, Interior Minister Habil El-Adly, 
and Minister of People's Assembly Affairs Kamal El-Shazly, be 
called as witness, in connection with the defense's claims 
that senior GOE officials conspired to frame Nour.  Three of 
Nour's codefendants entered guilty pleas on charges of 
forgery and related offences.  The court adjourned in the 
mid-afternoon, setting another session for the morning of 
June 30. 
 
6. (C) Comment:  Several Egyptian journalists we chatted with 
asserted that most or all of Nour's "supporters" present were 
hired by the Ghad Party.  We have no way of verifying or 
disproving the presence of a "rent-a-crowd" but many 
supporters we spoke with appeared sincere in their opposition 
to the GOE's case against Nour, which several described as 
"an attack on democracy."  Many if not most of Nour's 
loyalists present came from Bab al-Shariya, his lower middle 
class constituency in Central Cairo.  Noticeably absent were 
pro-government counter-demonstrators, whom some Ghad Party 
contacts had predicted would be out in force to harass Nour's 
supporters. 
 
7. (C) Comment continued:  The fact that three codefendants 
promptly entered guilty pleas on forgery charges does not 
prove, but is consistent with, Nour's allegations that the 
codefendants were hired by State Security to commit the 
forgeries and create a criminal case against him.  It remains 
to be seen whether Nour's trial will be fast-tracked or 
dragged out throughout the summer.  Those who predict the 
latter argue that the GOE has an interest in keeping Nour, a 
presidential candidate and harsh critic of the Mubarak 
regime, "otherwise occupied" in the final months before 
Egypt's first competitive presidential election.  Nour 
himself predicted in a recent interview that the trial would 
backfire against the GOE by stoking public sympathy for him 
and exposing the "injustice" of his case.  While Nour's case 
has certainly elevated his public profile, we believe he has 
an inflated sense of his standing on the Egyptian street, 
where he is viewed by many as a slick opportunist or even "an 
American agent," as some in the ruling NDP, and the tabloid 
press, have charged.  End comment. 
 
 
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CORBIN