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