US embassy cable - 03RABAT1086

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 RABAT 001086 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/19/2013 
TAGS: PTER, PREL, PGOV, KISL, MO 
SUBJECT: CASABLANCA ATTACKS:  WHO ARE THE SALAFIYAH 
JIHADIYAH? 
 
REF: A. 02 RABAT 2234 
     B. 02 RABAT 2045 
     C. 02 RABAT 1167 
 
CLASSIFIED BY: DCM HELEN LA LIME.  REASON 1.5 (B) AND (D). 
 
1.  (C)  SUMMARY.  COMMENTING ON THE MAY 16 BOMBINGS ON 
MOROCCAN TELEVISION MAY 18, PM DRISS JETTOU INDIRECTLY 
CRITICIZED THE LEGAL ISLAMIST JUSTICE AND DEVELOPMENT PARTY 
(PJD), AS WELL AS THE LEFTIST MOROCCAN HUMAN RIGHTS 
ASSOCIATION (AMDH), FOR THEIR PAST CRITICISM OF THE 
GOVERNMENT OVER ALLEGED MISTREATMENT OF DETAINEES BELONGING 
TO WHAT JETTOU CALLED "THE SALAFIYAH JIHADIYAH MOVEMENT." 
ALSO MAY 18, JUSTICE MINISTER MOHAMED BOUZOUBAA ASSOCIATED 
THE MAY 16 BOMBINGS WITH THE GROUP "SIRAT AL MOUSTAQIM" (THE 
RIGHT PATH).  SALAFIYAH JIHADIYAH AND SIRAT AL MOUSTAQIM, 
ALONG WITH "TAKFIR WAL HIJRA" (RENUNCIATION AND REPUDIATION), 
ARE TERMS USED BY THE PRESS AND SOMETIMES THE GOVERNMENT TO 
DESCRIBE VIOLENT ISLAMIST FRINGE GROUPS, WHICH BURST ONTO THE 
SCENE IN MOROCCO WITH A SERIES OF VIOLENT ACTS IN 2002 
LEADING TO A NUMBER OF ARRESTS (REFTELS).  WHILE MANY 
MOROCCANS HAVE BEEN HORRIFIED BY THE NATURE OF THE CRIMES 
ATTRIBUTED TO THESE GROUPS, AND THE PJD HAS REGULARLY ACCUSED 
THE GOM OF MISTREATING DETAINEES IN THE NAME OF COUNTERING 
THEM, CONVENTIONAL WISDOM HAS MAINTAINED THAT (1) SUCH GROUPS 
HAD NO NATIONAL ORGANIZATION, LEADERSHIP, OR CHAIN OF 
COMMAND, NO LINKS WITH EACH OTHER OR WITH FOREIGN 
ORGANIZATIONS, AND ESSENTIALLY CONSISTED OF DISORGANIZED, 
RAGTAG BANDS, AND (2) THAT THE AUTHORITIES HAD THE THREAT 
WELL IN HAND.  THESE ASSUMPTIONS MAY HAVE TO BE REVISED, IF 
THE MAY 16 BOMBERS TURN OUT TO BE DRAWN FROM THIS FRINGE, AS 
THE STATEMENTS BY THE PRIME MINISTER AND JUSTICE MINISTER 
SEEM TO INDICATE.  END SUMMARY. 
 
2.  (U)  IN TELEVISED COMMENTS MAY 18, PRIME MINISTER DRISS 
JETTOU CRITICIZED, WITHOUT NAMING THEM, THOSE WHO, IN THE 
NAME OF HUMAN RIGHTS, HAD CRITICIZED THE GOVERNMENT FOR ITS 
HANDLING OF THE RECENT TRIALS OF MEMBERS OF THE "SALAFIYAH 
JIHADIYAH MOVEMENT."  ALSO IN TELEVISED COMMENTS THE SAME 
DAY, JUSTICE MINISTER MOHAMED BOUZOUBAA SAID THAT SOME OF THE 
MAY 17 TERRORISTS WERE LINKED TO A GROUP CALLED "SIRAT AL 
MOUSTAQIM" (THE RIGHT PATH).  THE PRECISE MEANINGS OF THE 
TERMS "SALAFIYAH JIHADIYAH" AND "SIRAT AL MOUSTAQIM" CAN BE 
DIFFICULT TO DEVINE, AS THEY TEND TO BE USED INTERCHANGEABLY 
IN THE MEDIA AND BY GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS TO REFER TO A 
VIOLENT ISLAMIST FRINGE, ON WHICH THE EMBASSY HAS PREVIOUSLY 
REPORTED (SEE REFTELS). 
 
3.  (U)  FOR EXAMPLE, IN FEBRUARY 2002 IN A POOR NEIGHBORHOOD 
OF CASABLANCA, A BAND OF RELIGIOUS FANATICS OPERATING UNDER 
THE NAME "SIRAT AL MOUSTAQIM," LED BY SPIRITUAL LEADER 
MILOUDI ZAKARIA, STONED TO DEATH A RESIDENT OF THE DISTRICT 
WHO HAD PREVIOUSLY QUARRELED WITH A MEMBER OF THE BAND OVER 
THE ISSUE OF ALCOHOL USE BY THE VICTIM.  ZAKARIA AND 13 
COMPANIONS WERE TRIED AND CONVICTED IN CASABLANCA FOR THE 
MURDER.  IN MAY 2002 FEZ MOSQUE PREACHER MOHAMED ABDELWAHED 
RAFIKI (ABU HAFS) WAS ARRESTED AND SENTENCED TO SIX MONTHS IN 
PRISON (SUBSEQUENTLY REDUCED TO THREE MONTHS) FOR, AMONG 
OTHER INFRACTIONS, INCITING FOLLOWERS TO ATTACK INDIVIDUALS 
PERCEIVED TO BE BEHAVING IN AN UN-ISLAMIC MANNER.  ABU HAFS 
HAS BEEN IDENTIFIED IN THE PRESS AS A LEADER OF THE SALAFIYAH 
JIHADIYAH. 
 
4.  (U)  YOUSSEF FIKRI, DESCRIBED AS THE "EMIR" (RELIGIOUS 
LEADER) OF THE SALAFIYAH JIHADIYAH, AND ALSO AS THE LEADER OF 
THE MOVEMENT "TAKFIR WAL HIJRA" (RENUNCIATION AND 
REPUDIATION), WAS ARRESTED IN JUNE 2002 ALONG WITH EIGHT 
FOLLOWERS AND SUBSEQUENTLY TRIED FOR A SERIES OF BLOODTHIRSTY 
CRIMES, COMMITTED IN VARIOUS CITIES IN MOROCCO, WHICH 
INCLUDED KILLING VICTIMS AND DISMEMBERING THEM.  (THIS GROUP 
BEGAN A HUNGER STRIKE WHILE IN PRISON IN MAY 2003.)  THE 
COMMON THREAD UNITING MILOUDI'S, HAFS', AND FIKRI'S GROUPS IS 
VIGILANTE ACTION AGAINST INDIVIDUALS PERCEIVED TO BE ENGAGING 
IN UN-ISLAMIC BEHAVIOUR. 
 
5.  (U)  MOST MOROCCANS WERE SHOCKED, NOT ONLY BY THE DETAILS 
OF THESE CRIMES LAST YEAR, BUT ALSO BY THE VERY EXISTENCE OF 
SUCH GROUPS IN THE MOROCCAN BODY POLITIC, HERETOFORE 
UNSUSPECTED.  (AT ABOUT THE SAME TIME AS HAFS' ARREST IN MAY 
2002, THE EXISTENCE OF THE AL QAIDA CELL THAT PLANNED ATTACKS 
ON U.S. SHIPPING IN THE STRAIT OF GIBRALTAR WAS REVEALED.) 
INEVITABLE COMPARISONS WITH ALGERIA CAME UP.  AMONG 
TRADITIONAL ISLAMISTS, HOWEVER, AND PARTICULARLY THE LEGAL 
JUSTICE AND DEVELOPMENT PARTY (PJD), THERE WAS A TENDENCY TO 
SEE THE ARRESTS AND THE NEWS REPORTS AS A PLOT FABRICATED BY 
THE GOVERNMENT TO DISCREDIT ALL ISLAMISTS IN THE RUN-UP TO 
SEPTEMBER 2002 PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS.  SUBSEQUENTLY, THE 
PJD, JOINED BY THE FAR LEFT, AS REPRESENTED BY THE MOROCCAN 
HUMAN RIGHTS ASSOCIATION (AMDH), KEPT UP A STEADY DRUMBEAT OF 
CRITICISM OF THE GOM FOR ALLEGED MISTREATMENT OF DETAINEES 
ASSOCIATED WITH THE VIOLENT ISLAMIST FRINGE.  IT WAS THESE 
CRITICISMS THAT PM JETTOU REFERRED TO IN HIS COMMENTS OF MAY 
18. 
 
6.  (C)  WHILE SOME MOROCCANS WERE ALARMED BY THE EMERGENCE 
IN MOROCCO OF THE VIOLENT ISLAMIST FRINGE AND OTHERS THOUGHT 
THE WHOLE PHENOMENON A GOM FABRICATION, THERE HAS BEEN UNTIL 
NOW A GENERAL CONSENSUS AROUND TWO MAIN POINTS.  THE FIRST 
WAS THAT THERE WAS NO COHERENT NATIONAL ORGANIZATION TO WHICH 
MEMBERS OF THE FRINGE BELONGED, AND NO OVERALL LEADER OR 
CHAIN OF COMMAND.  THE THINKING WENT THAT THE THREAT, SUCH AS 
IT WAS, WAS POSED BY A FEW RAGTAG BANDS, WITH NO LINKS TO 
EACH OTHER OR TO FOREIGN ORGANIZATIONS.  THE SECOND PIECE OF 
CONVENTIONAL WISDOM WAS THAT THE GOM, AND SPECIFICALLY THE 
INTERIOR MINISTRY, HAD THE GROUPS WELL IN HAND AND UNDER 
CONTROL.  BOTH ASSUMPTIONS WILL NOW HAVE TO BE REVISED, IF 
THE MAY 16 BOMBERS INDEED PROVE TO BE DRAWN FROM THESE 
VIOLENT GROUPS.  WHILE THERE IS MUCH THAT REMAINS TO BE 
REVEALED BY THE ONGOING INVESTIGATION, IT SEEMS UNLIKELY THAT 
THE PRIME MINISTER AND THE JUSTICE MINISTER WOULD PUBLICLY 
ASSOCIATE THE SALAFIYAH JIHADIYAH AND THE SIRAT EL MOUSTAQIM 
WITH MAY 16 UNLESS THERE WERE EVIDENCE POINTING IN THAT 
DIRECTION. 
 
7.  (C)  MANY ON THE LEFT, WITH SEPTEMBER 2003 MUNICIPAL 
COUNCIL ELECTIONS IN MIND, WILL ATTEMPT TO TAR THE PJD WITH 
THE MAY 16 BRUSH.  IF THE PERPETRATORS ARE ULTIMATELY PROVEN 
TO BE MEMBERS OF THE VIOLENT ISLAMIST FRINGE, THE PJD WILL 
HAVE SOME BACKFILLING TO DO.  WE WILL EXAMINE IN SUBSEQUENT 
REPORTING REACTIONS TO MAY 16 BY THE PJD AS WELL AS BY THE 
JUSTICE AND CHARITY ORGANIZATION (JCO), MOROCCO,S OTHER 
PRINCIPAL (AND SEMI-LEGAL) ISLAMIST ORGANIZATION. 
 
 
TUTWILER