Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
05KUWAIT1308
2005-03-30 14:15:00
SECRET//NOFORN
Embassy Kuwait
Cable title:  

ISLAMIC EXTREMIST HAMAD AL-ALI: GOK CONFUSION ON

Tags:  PTER PGOV KISL KMDR PINR KU ISLAMISTS 
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S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 03 KUWAIT 001308 

SIPDIS

NOFORN

STATE FOR NEA/ARPI, INR, S/CT

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/19/2015
TAGS: PTER PGOV KISL KMDR PINR KU ISLAMISTS
SUBJECT: ISLAMIC EXTREMIST HAMAD AL-ALI: GOK CONFUSION ON
HOW TO HANDLE A FIREBRAND CLERIC PREACHING VIOLENT JIHAD

REF: A. KUWAIT 1076

B. 04 KUWAIT 3544

Classified By: Ambassador Richard LeBaron for reason 1.4 (d)

S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 03 KUWAIT 001308

SIPDIS

NOFORN

STATE FOR NEA/ARPI, INR, S/CT

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/19/2015
TAGS: PTER PGOV KISL KMDR PINR KU ISLAMISTS
SUBJECT: ISLAMIC EXTREMIST HAMAD AL-ALI: GOK CONFUSION ON
HOW TO HANDLE A FIREBRAND CLERIC PREACHING VIOLENT JIHAD

REF: A. KUWAIT 1076

B. 04 KUWAIT 3544

Classified By: Ambassador Richard LeBaron for reason 1.4 (d)


1. (SBU) Summary: Extremist Salafi preacher Hamad Al-Ali
continues to preach violent jihad in Kuwait despite GOK
attempts to promote tolerance in the society. Al-Ali was
recently detained by Kuwait State Security (KSS) for alleged
links to two of the January shoot-outs between law
enforcement officials and militants. He is due to be either
released or criminally charged in the next week. The GOK
blocked access to Al-Ali's website in February and banned him
from preaching in early March. Before his detention he was
actively preaching at his mosque and making anti-U.S.
statements, which were published in various media outlets.
He routinely shrouds his calls for jihad in poetry and
Islamic preaching thus making it more difficult for Kuwaiti
authorities to find any criminal wrongdoing. Al-Ali's
attorney Mubarak Al-Mutawa told EmbOffs that Al-Ali has never
instructed anyone to commit violent jihad against Americans
and that the allegations against his client are false.
Al-Ali was convicted in 2004 of insulting the Kuwaiti Amir
and other Arab leaders, but was able to have his sentence
suspended by paying a minimal fine. End Summary.

Who Is Hamad Al-Ali?
--------------


2. (SBU) "Shaykh" Hamad Abdullah Al-Ali, a Sunni cleric known
for his radical Islamic interpretations, is the former
Secretary General of the Salafi Movement (al-haraka

SIPDIS
al-salafiya),a position he held until 2001. (Note: The
Salafi Movement, aka the Scientific Salafis, is a hardline
offshoot of the conservative Salafi sect of Sunni Islam which
is heavily influenced by the Saudi Wahhabi brand of Islam.
End Note.) Al-Ali, who holds a PhD from an institution in
Tunisia, was also the Imam of Al-Sabahiyya Mosque and a
former preacher at the Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs.
He was convicted on June 19, 2004, and sentenced to two

years in jail for a variety of offenses: criticizing the
Kuwaiti Amir's decision to allow foreign military forces to
use Kuwaiti territory to launch a war on Iraq, describing
Arab leaders as traitors and failures, calling for an
unauthorized demonstration in support of Kuwaiti citizens
detained in Guantanamo, and hosting a jihadist website that
included links to bomb-making instructions. He paid KD 1,000
(approx. USD 3,400) to have his sentence suspended. Al-Ali
is also well known for a March 2004 statement in which he
said "it was not necessary for Kuwaitis to go to Iraq for
Jihad, rather, Jihad could be carried out just as well in
Kuwait." (Note: There is also another extremist-minded
Kuwaiti named Hamad Al-Ali. Dr. Hamad Hamad Al-Ali earned a
doctorate in Islamic Shari'a from the Islamic University in
Medina and is a professor at the Faculty of Shari'a at Kuwait
University. He was removed from his position as a preacher
at Al-Adasani Mosque and detained by police because he
reportedly violated Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs
rules and regulations and attacked with religiously-charged
condemnation the Awqaf and Islamic Affairs Minister and the
Kuwaiti judiciary. End Note.)

A History Of Spreading the Gospel of Violent Jihad...
-------------- --------------


3. (U) In April 2002, Hamad Abdullah Al-Ali reportedly
proffered a religious ruling which claimed that there are
circumstances in which it is permissible to kill civilians in
the cause of jihad without violating the Prophet Mohammed's
command prohibiting the murder of women and children. He said
in time of war that it was permissible to kill all citizens
of Israel and vaguely included general populations that are
party to anti-Islamic government policies because they pay
taxes and participate in elections. Al-Ali also wrote in his
book "Guiding Mankind to the Virtues of Jihad in the Rules of
Islam," that "jihad is not negated if the ruler refuses to
carry its banner, but it is Shari'a that continues until the
day of judgment." In a related 2004 sermon after Hamas
leader Abdal Aziz Al-Rantisi was killed, he said to mosque
worshippers, "we should walk on the path of jihad without
looking back. Victory will come soon and the martyrdom of
the leaders is evidence that victory is near."


4. (U) Al-Ali has also served as a regular Qur'anic expert
"Mufti" on IslamOnline.net's "Fatwa Bank" where he dispenses
his religious teaching and replies to people who log in with
questions on Islam needing "interpretation." In response to
an August 2004 internet question asking what Islam says about
sending Arab troops to Iraq to support the U.S.-led
coalition, Al-Ali responded saying it is against Islam for
any troops to "support and help an occupying force." He
continued saying support was forbidden "even if the force is
formed with the pretense of protecting the UN, because the UN
is only an instrument used by the infidel to execute his
plans."


5. (U) On February 9, 2005 a poem by Al-Ali was published by
the Kuwaiti liberal weekly Al-Talia. In it, Al-Ali wrote
"the Imam has no other function but jihad and ruling by
Shari'a, just as the prince of the armies Abu Mus'ab has
beheaded 'the American,' killing them if their evil becomes
great, breaking their backbone and aggression. If there are
women and children in their ranks leading to suspending jihad
against them, shooting is a verdict of obvious preponderance.
And we blow up enemies from a distance with mines as mighty
volcanoes shredding the enemies into strips of flesh."

...While Clouding His Role in Militant Violence
-------------- --


6. (SBU) Despite being convicted in 2004 of insulting the
Amir and promoting bomb-making, Al-Ali has managed to stay
out of serious legal trouble by couching his calls to
violence in strict Islamic terms, an approach that Kuwait
finds difficult to criminalize. During April 2004, Al-Ali
was questioned by public prosecutors investigating
allegations that he promoted bomb-making to worshippers at
his mosque. One Arabic daily reported that Al-Ali's personal
website provided directions for making explosives, however,
no directions were found at the site days later. His
website, currently shutdown by the GOK, contains religious
edicts and information about the Iraq crisis from an
anti-American perspective.


7. (S/NF) Al-Ali is believed by liberal opponents to be a key
facilitator of militant jihadists heading to Iraq but he
denies any involvement in such activities. Some detained
Kuwaiti militants during interrogation have alleged that they
were recruited by Hamad Al-Ali into a terror cell and in the
spring of 2004, a Kuwaiti citizen submitted a complaint to
Kuwait State Security (KSS) claiming that Al-Ali was the
person who recruited his son to fight in Iraq and arranged
his son's travel to Syria to enter Iraq.


8. (U) Al-Ali denies the presence of an organized terror
network in Kuwait and mentioned on his website in early
February that he didn't know any of those involved in the
January shoot-outs. He also said that their motives were
mysterious and called the press coverage of the incidents
"spiteful press sensationalism." According to a security
source, Al-Ali was placed under surveillance during this
period. In February, the Awqaf and Islamic Affairs Ministry
seized thousands of copies of a provocative religious tract
entitled "The Gift of Jihad in the Service of Almighty God."
The tract, which included a message on jihad by Al-Ali, had
been distributed in several mosques in Al-Ahmadi in rural
southeastern Kuwait.


9. (S) Like fellow Sunni Islamic extremist Jaber Al-Jalahma,
Hamad Al-Ali was contacted by KSS director Shaykh Athbi
Al-Fahd Al-Sabah and told to "calm things down," according to
an Embassy contact (ref A). Kuwaiti contacts have informed
PolOff that Al-Ali, like Al-Jalahma, serves as a routine
point of contact for Shaykh Athbi to communicate with
extremist elements in Kuwait. (Comment: This relationship,
which some contacts are convinced is current and ongoing,
suggests that Al-Ali not only has links to militants but is
able to exert some control over them. End Comment.)


10. (C) A senior member of the ruling Al-Sabah family told
PolOff in late 2004 that Hamad Al-Ali plays a significant
role in the organization of the spring and summer youth
camps, which are known to promote intolerant strains of Islam
(ref B). The Al-Sabah family member also claims that Al-Ali
remains closely affiliated with the Scientific Salafis and is
a key thinker for the group.

Detained For "Just Talking"
--------------


11. (U) On March 12, Hamad Al-Ali was detained and reportedly
interrogated by the public prosecution for allegedly
collaborating with suspects involved in two January
shoot-outs with security forces. It was later announced that
he would be detained for 21 days and it is expected that KSS
will either release or charge him in the coming days. Salafi
Movement MPs Dr. Walid Al-Tabtabaei and Abdullah Akkash met
on March 14 with Attorney General Hamad Al-Othman in an
unsuccessful effort to secure Al-Ali's release. The Salafi
Movement, surpised at the circumstances of his detention, has
expressed public solidarity with Al-Ali and is calling on the
National Assembly's Human Rights Committee to verify that
Al-Ali is being treated appropriately. The GOK blocked
access to Al-Ali's website in February and banned him from
preaching in early March. Al-Ali's lawyer, Mubarak Saadoun
Al-Mutawa, publicly complained that Al-Ali has not been able
to have his attorney present during certain periods of his
detention, which according to the Attorney General is in
keeping with some secret phases of the investigation.


12. (C) In a late-March meeting with EmbOffs, Al-Mutawa said
that Al-Ali's sermons and speeches were misused and
misrepresented by young people unknown to him in ways he did
not intend. He claimed that Al-Ali never fomented violent
jihad in Kuwait and that he "just talked" in his lectures and
the mosque. Al-Mutawa argued that just because Al-Ali says
something does not mean he should be responsible for others
should they take action. When asked about the link to
bomb-making instructions reported to be on his website in
2004, Al-Mutawa said that "it was a long time ago and it
wasn't him." He also said that Al-Ali never directly called
for anyone to commit jihad against Americans in Kuwait or
anywhere. Instead he explained that Al-Ali's message of
jihad was not direct, it was only "hinting." Al-Mutawa said
that he is confident that his client is not being tortured
and he expects Al-Ali to be found innocent.

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