TERRORIST FINANCE: JORDAN'S RESPONSE TO DEMARCHE

S E C R E T AMMAN 002858 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/07/2015 TAGS: PTER PREL KTFN EFIN ETTC CVIS JO SUBJECT: TERRORIST FINANCE: JORDAN'S RESPONSE TO DEMARCHE ON DESIGNATION OF BILAL AL-HIYARI REF: STATE 62087 Classified By: CDA David Hale for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) ¶1. (S) Emboffs on April 6 delivered reftel demarche to Walid Obeidat of the Foreign Minister's Private Office and Siwar Massadeh of the MFA's Legal Affairs Department. Obeidat commented that because Hiyari, a Jordanian citizen, was convicted in the State Security Court of financing Zarqawi's network, it is possible that the GOJ has already seized Hiyari's assets; at the very least Hiyari probably remains under close GOJ scrutiny. They promised to immediately convey the points to relevant Jordanian agencies, as well as Jordan's UN mission in New York. Obeidat said he would also brief the Foreign Ministry's Secretary General, who, in the aftermath of the King's decision a day earlier to dismiss the cabinet, was de facto head of the ministry. Anticipating that a new government (and new foreign minister) would be named within days, Obeidat was hopeful that a decision on co-designation of Hiyari could be made before April 13. He said he would be in touch with us as soon as possible on the matter. ¶2. (U) Minimize considered. Please visit Embassy Amman's classified web site at http://www.state.sgov/p/nea/amman/ or access the site through the Department of State's SIPRNET home page. HALE