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Viewing cable 07CAIRO3537, MECA DETAINEES RELEASED

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Reference ID Created Released Classification Origin
07CAIRO3537 2007-12-27 08:00 2011-08-24 16:30 UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY Embassy Cairo 
VZCZCXYZ0003
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHEG #3537 3610800
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 270800Z DEC 07
FM AMEMBASSY CAIRO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 7789
INFO RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC
 
UNCLAS CAIRO 003537 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
SENSITIVE 
 
NSC STAFF FOR PASCUAL 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KIRF PHUM PGOV EG
SUBJECT: MECA DETAINEES RELEASED 
 
REF: A. CAIRO 3256 
     B. CAIRO 3351 
     C. CAIRO 3398 
 
Sensitive but unclassified.  Please protect accordingly. 
 
1.(U)  On December 25, the Office of the Public Prosecutor 
ordered the release of three members of the Middle East 
Christians Association (MECA) held since their November 10 
arrests for allegedly "fueling sectarianism" and "insulting 
Islam" (ref A and B).  The three were released, without 
charges, late on the afternoon of December 26. Our 
understanding is that all three returned to their residences 
in Cairo and Alexandria.  The three still could be charged 
criminally or face private lawsuits. 
 
2. (SBU) Comment:  The reasons for the release are not clear. 
Under Egypt's criminal code, a suspect may be held without 
charges for up to five consecutive fifteen-day periods.  In 
this case, the third fifteen-day detention period had just 
expired, and a lawyer for one detainee told us that 
investigators in the prosecutor's office missed a deadline 
for requesting renewal of the detention.  Another possible 
explanation is that the government believed it had delivered 
a sufficiently strong warning to the detainees and MECA, and 
there was no point in holding the three any longer, 
especially in light of the attention the case was attracting 
(ref C). 
 
 
Ricciardone