US embassy cable - 05BAGHDAD3021

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 BAGHDAD 003021 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/21/2025 
TAGS: PHUM, PGOV, PINR, IZ, Sunni Arab, Human Rights 
SUBJECT: NEW CASES OF APPARENT ABUSES RAISE MORE SUNNI ARAB 
COMPLAINTS AGAINST INTERIOR MINISTRY 
 
REF: A. BAGHDAD 2025 
 
     B. BAGHDAD 2120 
 
Classified By: POLITICAL COUNSELOR ROBERT S. FORD. 
REASONS 1.4 (B) AND (D). 
 
1.  (C) SUMMARY:  The Sunni community is alleging that 
the Ministry of Interior's (MoI) Commando Unit is 
responsible for the deaths of 20 Sunnis in two recent 
incidents in Baghdad.  On July 10, Commandos 
reportedly took 11 Sunni men from their homes.  Their 
bodies, which showed signs of torture, were discovered 
in Sadr City on July 12.  It was reported on July 12 
that 9 Sunnis suffocated in a van in which Commandos 
held them for hours.  A survivor claims the men were 
also tortured.  MoI initially denied any wrongdoing, 
but Minister Jabr announced on July 18 that the 
officers involved in the incident had been arrested 
and an investigation was pending.  All the officers 
were subsequently released.  MoI has yet to provide 
results from any of its investigations into alleged 
police abuses, and aside from officers being 
reassigned to other duties we have not seen any 
significant official punished for abuses.  Deputy 
Minister of Human Rights Aida Osairan said she is 
convinced that MoI is complicit in acts of violence 
against the Sunni community but said Ministry of Human 
Rights employees resist investigating Shi'a-on-Sunni 
violations.  END SUMMARY. 
 
2.  (C) Recent incidents of what appears to be 
sectarian violence aimed at Sunnis have put the 
Ministry of Interior (MoI) on the defensive again 
(reftels).  Increasingly, allegations point to 
complicity by MoI's Commando Unit (Moghawir) in this 
violence.  In two separate incidents in a two-day 
span, the Commandos allegedly contributed -- either 
directly or indirectly -- to the deaths of up to 20 
Sunnis in Baghdad. 
 
3.  (C) On July 14, several sources, including 
Adamiyah District Council member Dr. Riyadh Aladhadh 
and Sunni Waqf official Naji Ithawi, told EmbOffs that 
early on the morning of July 10, men in Commando and 
Iraqi National Guard (ING) uniforms broke into the 
Gareatt neighborhood homes of 11 Sunni men, and took 
them to an undetermined location.  (NOTE: the ING, 
having been integrated into the Iraqi Army, no longer 
exists.  However, it is still sometimes identified as 
such.  END NOTE.)  The Imam of the Malik Al Molk 
Mosque, Sheik Dhiya'aa Hamood al-Janabi, was one of 
the 11 taken from their homes.  According to Ithawi, 
an eyewitness reported that an ING present during the 
raid told her, "We have been ruling the country for 
two months and we must exterminate you."  The bodies 
of all 11 men were subsequently found on July 12 in 
the Al-Orphilly neighborhood in Sadr City.  According 
to Ithawi, the victims' bodies showed signs of 
torture.  (NOTE: Ithawi told PolFSN that he possesses 
a CD with pictures "too horrible to look at" of the 
bodies.  Post is making arrangements with Ithawi to 
get the CD, as well as the names of all 11 victims. 
END NOTE.) 
 
4.  (C) On July 12, Iraqi press reported that 10 
Sunnis in the custody of an MoI Commando Unit 
suffocated after being locked in a police van for 
hours.  (NOTE: Coalition Forces confirmed that there 
were nine victims.  END NOTE.) The victims had been 
accused of insurgent activity and were arrested at a 
Baghdad hospital where they were being treated for 
wounds allegedly incurred during an insurgent attack. 
A man who survived the incident claimed the police had 
held them for more than 12 hours; however, MoI 
officials said it had been only 2 hours.  The survivor 
also alleged that the Commandos tortured him and the 
men with whom he had been held.  MoI officials denied 
the allegations of torture and Minister of Interior 
Baqr Jabr told IRMO-MoI senior consultant on July 13 
that the Commandos might have been unaware there would 
be no air circulation in the vehicle if was not 
running (septel).  On July 18, Jabr announced the 
arrest of the officers involved in the incident and 
said an investigation was pending.  However, a 
reliable source told EmbOff on July 19 that all the 
officers had been released because "they could not be 
held accountable since they had not been properly 
trained in the use of the vehicle." 
 
5.  (C) In a separate meeting on July 17, Deputy Human 
Rights Minister Aida Osairan told PolOff she watched a 
press conference on the evening of July 16 during 
which Jabr denied the allegations of torture in this 
incident, claimed the Americans had given MoI the 
vehicle, and said the Commandos had not known air 
would not circulate if the engine was not running. 
According to Osairan, Jabr's statements, particularly 
with respect to the vehicle, came across as "finger 
pointing."  (COMMENT: MNSTC-I has transferred several 
detainee transport vehicles to MoI, and it is likely 
one of these vehicles was involved.  Despite Jabr's 
implication, it is unimaginable that the Commandos 
would not expect serious suffering by detainees locked 
in a closed vehicle in temperatures exceeding 110 
degrees.  END COMMENT.) 
 
6.  (C) Further, Osairan said she is convinced that 
the Moghawir and other components of MoI are, in fact, 
perpetrating human rights abuses.  Osairan told PolOff 
that most of the abuse takes place on MoI's seventh 
floor, which she said is known in her Ministry as the 
"bad reputation floor."  Osairan related an incident 
that the prison inspections team recently uncovered. 
A woman who was detained by the police, said Osairan, 
told this team of inspectors that she was brought to 
MoI HQ, where she was raped on three different floors 
of the building -- including the seventh -- by 
multiple men each time.  Because of the societal 
stigma associated with this crime, the woman, who 
remains in custody, decided not to press the issue and 
her rapists were never punished.  (Comment:  Embassy 
IRMO advisors who are at the Ministry daily report to 
have seen no evidence of serious prisoner abuse on the 
Ministry's seventh floor.  End Comment.) 
 
7.  (C) When PolOff asked Osairan what the Ministry of 
Human Rights (MoHR) is doing to address the MoI abuses 
she is convinced are taking place, Osairan responded 
that, while violations regarding Shi'a-on-Shi'a abuse 
are generally investigated, MoHR tends to ignore those 
complaints involving Shi'a-on-Sunni abuse.  "They just 
do not want to do it," said Osairan, explaining that 
employees themselves are unable to objectively address 
such violations because of their own religious and 
ethnic orientations.  When PolOff expressed concern 
about the sectarian nature of the very organization 
tasked with protecting the human rights of all Iraqis, 
Osairan quickly responded that the situation is 
getting better and that she is "taking care of it." 
(COMMENT: The Government has still not named a Human 
Rights Minister.  While she appears to be very 
effective administratively, Osairan is not a strong 
leader, nor does she have the necessary strategic 
orientation to effectively guide MoHR forward as an 
"equal opportunity" protector of human rights.  The 
Charge urged the Prime Minister on July 15 to name a 
Human Rights minister.  The Prime Minister said such 
an appointment would be useful, but he has not found a 
suitable candidate willing to take the job yet.  END 
COMMENT.) 
 
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SUNNI REACTION 
-------------- 
 
8.  (C) Sunni reaction to these incidents has been 
loud and clear.  The Iraqi Islamic Party (IIP) and the 
Sunni Waqf publicly condemned both incidents.  The IIP 
called the suffocation incident "barbarian behavior" 
and urged human rights organizations to investigate 
the incident, saying those responsible should be 
punished.  Sunni Waqf head Dr. Adnan al-Dulaimi called 
for an immediate investigation into the murders of the 
11 Sunnis found in Sadr City, demanding that the 
results of the investigation be made available to the 
public.  Al-Dulaimi also called on the Ministries of 
Justice and Human Rights to take a position on this 
case.  Neither of them have publicly done so.  MoHR 
did publish a statement on July 18 condemning "the 
accident" and claiming that the Iraqi Security Forces 
(ISF) employed techniques similar to those used by the 
former regime.  However, the statement failed to 
identify the incident to which it was referring and 
did not provide any specific details.  (NOTE: UK 
PolOFF said that Osairan told her on July 14 that 
Acting Human Rights Minister Narmin Othman told her to 
"keep quiet" about the suffocation incident after she 
saw MoHR's proposed press statement.  END NOTE.) 
 
9.  (C) Aladhadh told PolOff that he has proactively 
worked to cultivate relationships with ISF.  While he 
has had some success with the ING, he complained that 
there are simply too many factions within MoI to 
effectively build such relationships.  Sunnis are 
"living in a jungle," he said, and pointed out that 
many people are telling him they want to leave the 
country.  There are two kinds of terrorism, said 
Aladhadh, that being carried out by the insurgents and 
the "official terrorism" MoI is conducting. 
 
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COMMENT 
------- 
 
10.  (C) Our Sunni Arab interlocutors complain that 
they provide MoI with evidence of murder and torture 
perpetrated against Sunnis, but that MoI fails to act 
on this evidence. 
Interior Minister Jabr has consistently said the right 
things to us about the consequences the police will 
face if they commit human rights abuses.  For example, 
he has ordered the removal of a brigade commander 
involved in human rights violations and asked the 
Prime Minister to form an independent investigative 
body.  He appears committed to preventing human rights 
abuses, but substantive progress has been limited thus 
far.  Importantly, while MoI may be investigating 
allegations of abuse in these and other cases, it 
certainly has not informed the Sunni community of any 
results, nor has it made public any disciplinary 
action taken.  Incidents such as the May 5 murders of 
14 Sunni farmers in Mad'ain (ref A), as well as the 
murders of Sunni clerics Sheik Hassan al-Naimi and 
Sheik Talal Nayef (ref B), remain unsolved.  It is not 
clear if there ever was an investigation; certainly no 
results were ever released. 
 
11.  (C) Equally disturbing is Deputy Human Rights 
Minister Osarian's claim that MoHR -- the State's 
official protector of human rights -- is convinced of 
MoI's complicity in human rights abuses, yet looks the 
other way if it is directed at Sunnis.  The Mission's 
elements will continue to press hard with the Ministry 
of Interior using specific examples when we get them, 
urging thorough investigations and punishment for 
those security officials guilty of abuses.   END 
COMMENT. 
 
12.  (U) REO HILLA, REO BASRA, REO MOSUL, and REO 
KIRKUK, minimize considered. 
 
 
Satterfield