VZCZCXRO9268
OO RUEHROV
DE RUEHEG #3214 3101555
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 061555Z NOV 07
FM AMEMBASSY CAIRO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 7391
INFO RUEHXK/ARAB ISRAELI COLLECTIVE
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC

UNCLAS CAIRO 003214 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
NSC STAFF FOR WATERS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM PGOV EG
SUBJECT: TWO EGYPTIAN POLICE OFFICERS CONVICTED OF TORTURE; 
HUMAN RIGHTS GROUPS CALL FOR FURTHER STEPS 
 
REF: 2006 CAIRO 7109 
 
Sensitive but unclassified.  Please protect accordingly. 
 
¶1.  (SBU)  The November 5 conviction of two Egyptian police 
officers for the assault and sodomy of bus driver Imad 
El-Kabir (reftel) has received wide coverage in the Egyptian 
media.  Judge Samir Abul Mati sentenced officers Islam Nabi 
and Reda Fathi, of the Boulaq Dakrour (Giza) police station, 
to three years in prison for the January 2006 attack on 
Kabir.  The officers apparently chose to document their 
attack on Kabir by using a cell phone video camera.  Although 
they initially used the video in an effort to humiliate and 
intimidate Kabir and his fellow bus drivers, the video clip 
soon leaked.  The online images, accompanied by Kabir's 
anguished cries for mercy, created a media sensation in Egypt 
and beyond with their graphic depiction of the attack. 
 
¶2.  (SBU)  Egyptian and international human rights groups 
have welcomed the conviction, and have called upon the GOE to 
take comprehensive and firm measures to stamp out what they 
say is a culture of police impunity.  Our Egyptian human 
rights contacts, while applauding the convictions, have also 
noted that the three-year sentences were the minimum allowed 
under the law.  Both officers faced up to 15 years in prison 
because of the brutal and sexual nature of the crime. 
 
¶3.  (SBU)  The two police officers will remain in detention 
pending their appeal of the conviction, which is expected to 
take up to one year.  According to several of our human 
rights contacts, they remain troubled by the fact that the 
police service has not yet formally discharged the convicted 
officers from service. 
RICCIARDONE