VZCZCXYZ0001
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHEG #0171 0240501
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 240501Z JAN 07
FM AMEMBASSY CAIRO
TO RUEHGB/AMEMBASSY BAGHDAD IMMEDIATE 0121
RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 3290
INFO RUEHAM/AMEMBASSY AMMAN 1522
RUEHKU/AMEMBASSY KUWAIT 0273

UNCLAS CAIRO 000171 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL PTER PHUM EG IZ
SUBJECT: IRAQ:  EGYPTIAN EMBASSY EMPLOYEE KIDNAPPED 
 
 
Sensitive but unclassified.  Please handle accordingly. 
 
(SBU) Wire services reported on January 23 that an Egyptian 
Embassy employee in Baghdad was kidnapped.  MFA Spokesman and 
Iraq Specialist Alaa Hadidi confirmed to poloff the veracity 
of the reports, and said the person was an Egyptian citizen 
employed by the embassy who was kidnapped mid-day on January 
22 at a bank close to the Egyptian mission building.  The 
Egyptian's name is Nabil Mohamed Abu Al Ma,ati.  Hadidi said 
that Ma'ati left the Egyptian Embassy with a driver, went to 
a bank close to the Embassy, and never came outside.  The 
Embassy later received a phone call from Ma,ati,s cell 
phone shortly after his disappearance, demanding ransom for 
Ma'ati's safe return.  Hadidi had no other details to provide 
on the kidnapping, but offered the name of a contact at the 
Egyptian Embassy in Bagdad: Mohsen Abdel Aziz Mohamed (no 
phone number).  (Note:  Egypt has maintained only a skeleton 
staff at its property in Baghdad, following the June 2005 
kidnapping and murder of its Charge d'Affairs Ihab El Sherif. 
 End note.) 
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