US embassy cable - 04AMMAN4065

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 AMMAN 004065 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/20/2014 
TAGS: PREL, MOPS, IZ, US, JO 
SUBJECT: JORDAN MFA REQUESTS INFORMATION ON 10 MORE 
JORDANIANS CLAIMED TO BE DETAINED IN IRAQ 
 
REF: A. AMMAN 3230 
 
     B. AMMAN 3486 
     C. BAGHDAD 386 (NO CPA MESSAGE NUMBER PROVIDED) 
     D. NICOLAIDIS/HALE E-MAIL MAY 10 2004 
     E. AMMAN 3822 
 
Classified By: Ambassador Edward Gnehm for reasons 1.5(b), (d) 
 
1. (U) This is an action request for CPA, CENTCOM, and 
CJTF-7.  See para 4 below. 
 
----------------------------- 
JORDANIANS IN CUSTODY IN IRAQ 
----------------------------- 
 
2. (C) The GOJ believes that as many as 38 Jordanians may be 
in coalition custody, 10 to 15 of which may be incorrectly 
identified as Iraqi nationals.  On May 11, Embassy Amman 
received and official request from the Jordan MFA for 
information on the current status of 19 Jordanians who the 
GOJ believes are in coalition custody (Ref E).  On May 19, 
Embassy Amman received a second official request from the 
Jordan MFA for information on an additional 10 Jordanians, 
bringing the total number of possible Jordanian detainees to 
29.  The MFA says that it will provide further names as they 
are made aware of any of them.  The second list of 10 names 
is enclosed below in the following format:  Detainee No., 
name, DOB, mother's name, location. 
 
unknown, Hisham Mahmoud Abdul Rahman Abu Saleh, 01/01/1945, 
Amneh Abdul Aziz, Al-Tasfeerat 
 
unknown, Nour Hisham Mahmoud Abu Saleh, 01/09/1974, Hamdiyyeh 
Abdullah, Al-Tasfeerat 
 
unknown, Mohammad Hisham Mahmoud Abu Saleh, 01/23/1978, 
Mahdiyyeh Abdullah, Al-Tasfeerat 
 
unknown, Adli Hisham Mahmoud Abu Saleh, 07/12/1982, Mahdiyyeh 
Abdullah, Al-Tasfeerat 
 
unknown, Ammar Mohammad Abdul Fattah Al-Awad, 06/27/1983, 
Laila Shirzad, Al-Tasfeerat 
 
unknown, Tareq Rizq Younes Al-Hajj, 01/13/1979, Dalal 
Hussein, Al-Tasfeerat 
 
unknown, Ali Turki Khalaf Al-Shammari, unknown, Dahiyyeh, Abu 
Ghreib 
 
unknown, Mohammad Abdul Rahim Rashed, Al-Ramtha, Sa'dah, 
Al-Rasafah 
 
unknown, Mousa Hassan Mohammad Al-Theyabat, unknown, Zainah, 
unknown 
 
unknown, Mustafa Eqab Abu Rumman, unknown, unknown 
 
3. (C) Post appreciates the CPA's May 10 list of 10 
Jordanians in coalition custody (Ref D).  In the first 
Jordanian request (Ref E), there was an overlap of seven 
names.  However, not all seven had the same biographic data. 
In this second list, there are no overlapping names. 
 
4. (C) In light of the recent Abu Ghreib abuse story and 
unsubstantiated and exaggerated parliamentary allegations 
that 1,000 Jordanians remain in coalition custody (still 
widely believed), post would appreciate any details 
confirming coalition detention of any of the 29 individuals 
from the two lists, their current welfare and reason for 
detention. 
 
5. (C)  PolCouns discussed Jordanian prisoners in Iraq May 20 
with Basheer Zoubi, Deputy Director of FonMin Muasher's 
private office and MFA Iraq action officer.  Zoubi asked that 
CPA attempt to find the persons mentioned on the two 
Jordanian lists, saying that the GOJ had verified all of the 
name as Jordanian citizens through the Interior Ministry's 
"family book" registration system (which, unlike issuance of 
a Jordanian passport, connotes full Jordanian citizenship). 
Zoubi repeated an earlier request that the U.S. and Coalition 
try to identify those Jordanians in Coalition custody and 
release as many as possible before the June 30 transfer of 
sovereignty.  "We don't want our people in the hands of the 
Iraqis." 
 
6. (U) Baghdad minimize considered. 
 
Visit Embassy Amman's classified website at 
 
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/amman/ 
 
or access the site through the State Department's SIPRNET 
home page. 
GNEHM