SADRIST SHAYKH, RELEASED FROM JAIL, TELLS OF ALLEGED PRISON

C O N F I D E N T I A L HILLAH 000385

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/31/2015
TAGS: PGOV PREL KISL IZ
SUBJECT: SADRIST SHAYKH, RELEASED FROM JAIL, TELLS OF ALLEGED PRISON
ABUSE


CLASSIFIED BY: ALFRED FONTENEAU, REGIONAL COORDINATOR, REO,
AL-HILLAH, STATE.
REASON: 1.4 (b),(d)




1. (C) Summary: In a private meeting in Najaf on December 27, a
high-ranking Sadrist shaykh recently released from prison told
Moqtada Al-Sadr that while in prison, he was tortured and the
Koran was defiled, Sadrist sources reported to SET Najaf local
staff. The shaykh also expressed to Sadr his desire to see the
new Iraqi Government take control of all Coalition detention
facilities, and execute Saddam Hussein. End Summary.


2. (C) Shaykh Mohammed Al-Rubae, a high-ranking lieutenant of
Moqtada al-Sadr, met the cleric in his Najaf home on December 27
after the shaykh's release from prison, Sadrist contacts
reported. (Note: It was not clear from the sources if Al-Rubae
was being held in a Coalition- or Iraqi-run detention facility.
End note.) Al-Rubae was first arrested after the August 2004
fighting between Coalition forces and Sadrists in Najaf. He was
released shortly afterwards, and arrested again in June 2005. He
was released a second time on December 26.


3. (C) Al-Rubae reportedly told Sadr that he had been tortured
in prison, and that he had witnessed the Koran being desecrated
in the jail where he had been kept. In a discussion of the
political process, Al-Rubae and Sadr reportedly agreed that the
new Iraqi Government must gain control of all detention
facilities from coalition forces.


4. (C) Sadr reportedly asked Al-Rubae about other members of his
following in prison. Al-Rubae delivered a letter from one of the
incarcerated Sadrists. Sadr and Al-Rubae also reportedly agreed
that Saddam Hussein should be executed, and that Baathists
should be banned from participating in the political process.


5. Comment: Reports of alleged torture and Koran desecration by
those in Coalition and Iraqi detention facilities are not new.
Regardless of the veracity of Al-Rubae's report to Sadr, it is
unlikely that the cleric will miss an opportunity to use these
allegations to criticize the Coalition, demand a withdrawal of
all non-Iraqi forces, and lobby for more Iraqi control of
detention facilities. End comment.

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