US embassy cable - 05KUWAIT766

C O N F I D E N T I A L KUWAIT 000766 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR NEA/ARPI 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/19/2015 
TAGS: KISL, PREL, PHUM, KU 
SUBJECT: SECURITY TIGHT AS SHI'A CELEBRATE ASHOURA 
 
REF: A. KUWAIT 274 
 
     B. KUWAIT 036 
     C. 04 KUWAIT 1346 
 
Classified By: CDA Matthew Tueller for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) 
 
1. (U) Summary: Kuwaiti and expatriate Shiites celebrated 
Ashoura on the evenings of February 18 and 19 under heavy 
police protection after militants seized in the GOK's 
month-long offensive against extremism reportedly revealed 
they had planned to attack Shiite celebrations.  Kuwait's 
estimated 300,000-strong indigenous Shiite population has 
enjoyed a general upsurge in political and legal rights since 
the liberation of Iraq, peaking last year with a public 
reenactment of the Battle of Karbala during the festival 
commemorating the death of the Prophet Mohammed's grandson, 
Imam Hussein.  Although this year's reenactment was denied, a 
prominent Shi'a cleric believed the overall situation of 
Kuwait's Shiite community had improved. End Summary. 
 
2. (U) Husseiniyas, tents and Shiite mosques -- many guarded 
by a heavy marked police presence -- were packed full of 
observant Shiites the evening of February 18 when PolMilOff 
attended four separate gatherings celebrating the Shiite holy 
day of Ashoura.  Thousands of participants, many of them 
Farsi-speaking Iranian nationals, sang songs, shared in 
feasts and performed ritual self-flagellation with chains 
during the course of the evening.  (Note: PolMilOff was 
invited to and warmly received at all events. End Note.) 
 
3. (C) The GOK mobilized security forces to protect Shiite 
gatherings after detained Sunni militants detailed plans they 
had had to attack Shiite mosques and Husseiniyas during 
Ashoura.  The head of Kuwait's Shiite Clerics Congregation, 
Mohammed Baquer Al-Mohri, told Poloff February 15 that the 
GOK had provided excellent security cooperation in the days 
preceding Ashoura and that Shiites in Kuwait were feeling an 
unprecedented sense of unity in light of the threats against 
them.  He added that Shiites "feel safer" because the 
government has shown it will not tolerate violence. 
 
4. (C) While lamenting the fact that Shi'a would not be 
allowed to publicly reenact the Battle of Karbala, as they 
had in 2004 (ref. C), Al-Mohri, who had weeks before 
complained bitterly about unfairness by the GOK (ref. A), 
said that Shiites in the region had been "deprived for 30 
years" but were currently experiencing "more freedoms."  In 
2004, Kuwait witnessed a rise in the number of approved 
Shiite mosque building permits, the establishment of a 
Jaafari (Shiite) Waqf, and general and unprecedented 
political muscle flexing by Kuwait's Shiite population. 
 
5. (C) Comment:  The denial of Shiite requests to reenact the 
Battle of Karbala again occured before the GOK's 
anti-extremist crackdown and may have been part of efforts at 
the time to placate Sunni extremists. (Note: The government's 
only Shiite Minister resigned this year amid scandal (ref. 
B).  The GOK usually refuses to accept such resignations, a 
practice it did not follow in this case.  End Note.)  Faced 
with a wave of Sunni extremism, however, the government 
appears to have abandoned this tactic.  It remains to be seen 
if the GOK -- traditionally wary of the Shi'a population -- 
is actually committed to expanding Shiite rights or is just 
reacting to a possible security threat. 
TUELLER