LAWYER FOR ACCUSED TERRORIST MAKES HIS CASE

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 KUWAIT 002174

SIPDIS

STATE FOR NEA/ARPI

E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/15/2015
TAGS: PTER PREL PHUM PINR KJUS KISL KU TERRORISM ISLAMISTS
SUBJECT: LAWYER FOR ACCUSED TERRORIST MAKES HIS CASE

REF: A. KUWAIT 1908

B. KUWAIT 1308

C. KUWAIT 1192

D. KUWAIT 405

E. 04 KUWAIT 1600

F. 04 KUWAIT 1042

Classified By: Ambassador Richard LeBaron for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)


1. (C) Summary: PolOffs met with prominent defense attorney
Osama Al-Munawer on May 15, 2005, at the law offices of his
father, Ahmed H. Al-Munawer, to discuss the status of pending
criminal cases against many of his clients. Al-Munawer is
the defense attorney for most of the Kuwaiti nationals
charged with terror-related crimes, including 46 persons held
in connection with Kuwait's January and February shoot-outs,
14 persons accused of crossing into Iraq via Syria to wage
jihad against coalition forces, and well known Islamists and
terror suspects Khaled Al-Dosari and Shaykh Hamad Abdullah
Al-Ali, among others. Al-Munawer accused the GOK of engaging
in the systematic illegal detention and torture of those who
criticize it, and claimed he only represents clients who are
innocent. He said that 14 of his clients recently convicted
for traveling to Iraq to commit violent jihad were innocent
and were victims of a political ruling. Al-Munawer said that
contrary to accusations of judicial leniency, several
convicted militants have received lengthy sentences. He
accused the Public Prosecutor's officer of conducting a witch
hunt against him, blamed the office for current problems in
the legal system, and saw nothing inconsistent with a
judicial system that doles out harsher sentences for
insulting Islam than for trafficking in illegal weapons. End
Summary.

State Security Turns Innocent Men Violent
--------------


2. (C) During a recent meeting with PolOffs, Osama
Al-Munawer, defense attorney for many Kuwaiti extremists and
suspected violent jihadists, discussed some details of his
clients' cases, reviewed his own legal troubles, and shared
his views on Kuwait and its judicial system. Although
appreciative of the U.S.-led liberation of Kuwait, he does
not support the continued presence of the U.S. in Iraq and
said he was shocked at the abuses at Abu Ghraib and
Guantanamo Bay and expressed "outrage" at the reported
desecration of the Qur'an at the Guantanamo detention center.
He said that after the events of September 11, when Kuwaiti
authorities began rounding up and holding Islamists
indefinitely, he tried to warn the GOK that this policy would
create "grudges" amongst former detainees, who would seek
revenge.


2. (C) Al-Munawer accused Kuwait State Security (KSS) of
detaining innocent Islamists on weak charges and routinely
torturing and sexually abusing them. He said that most of
those held are eventually acquitted, but only after immense
personal suffering. Aside from the emotional scars brought
on by the abuse and torture, many also lose their jobs and
families, leaving them angry and vengeful.


4. (C) Addressing the issue of rhetorical support for jihad,
Al-Munawer rejected the notion that Kuwaiti Islamists support
jihad against Americans in Kuwait. Carefully avoiding
mention of support for jihad outside Kuwaiti territory, he
noted that there are no Kuwaiti fatwas calling the faithful
to fight Americans on Kuwaiti soil, as this would be
"terrorism against the peace-loving people of Kuwait," whose
representatives in the National Assembly had invited the
foreigners to maintain a military presence here.

Clients Are A "Who's Who" Of Kuwaiti Jihadists
--------------


5. (C) Al-Munawer commented on the case of Ali Nasser
Al-Ajmi, who was sentenced to 15 years in prison for the
December 2003 U.S. convoy shooting on 7th Ring Road. He said
Al-Ajmi was "100 percent" innocent of the crime, citing
eyewitness reports from the soldiers that the shooter had
been driving a white car. Al-Munawer said a KSS investigator
involved in the case, however, had concluded that the shooter
drove a black car, the color of Al-Ajmi's car. Calling
Ajmi's guilty verdict "completely political," Al-Munawer
claimed that he was not allowed to attend the interrogations
of his client and said the case should have led to a mistrial
on procedural grounds. Al-Munawer added that he does not
represent those he feels are guilty. An appeals court verdict
is scheduled to be announced on May 25.


6. (C) Discussing the recent conviction of 14 of his clients
who were arrested during July and August 2004 for traveling,
or attempting to travel, to Iraq via Syria to commit violent
jihad, he said the verdict was a political decision and not
one based on the material evidence (ref. a). He claimed his
clients were innocent of all charges and offered as proof
that all involved received only a three-year sentence despite
committing different crimes, some of which are subject to
sentences of up to 25 years. He said if his clients had
truly committed these crimes, the GOK would have punished
them with much harsher sentences in accordance with the law.
PolOff asked Al-Munawer if he thought his clients had a good
chance of being acquitted on appeal. He expressed hope for
an acquittal but remarked that a three-year sentence compared
with a 25-year sentence essentially was an acquittal.


7. (C) Al-Munawer confirmed that another client, firebrand
Islamist cleric Shaykh Hamad Abdullah Al-Ali, was still being
detained and had been charged with "instigation," based on
the confessions by other detainees under torture, alleging
that Al-Ali organized and financed their efforts. (ref. b)
Al-Munawer said no lawyer has seen Al-Ali's "file," which the
Public Prosecutor's Office said was secret. Criticizing the
withholding of information as illegal, Al-Munawer said the
Prosecutor's office was likely using the time to alter
Al-Ali's statements in order to use them against his client
during the trial. Al-Munawer said Al-Ali and 46 others
accused of being involved in the January shoot-outs would be
tried May 24. He said they were being held in the new
building of the central prison, presided over by "Shi'a"
police who treated them harshly. He remarked that only the
defendants' families have been allowed to meet with them.

The Legal Case Against Al-Munawer
--------------


8. (C) Al-Munawer said the Public Prosecutor's office "always
violates laws" by refusing to allow the presence of attorneys
and letting cases languish to prolong the time suspects are
detained. Al-Munawer claimed the office "fabricated" a
charge against him that prevented him from practicing law for
more than a year. In a more recent incident, Al-Munawer was
detained in February on accusations that he gave money to
Kuwaiti fugitive Khaled Al-Dosari, who is wanted by KSS for
involvement in some of the January shoot-outs. Al-Munawer
insisted that Al-Dosari is innocent of all allegations and
told PolOffs that he fled because he believed that if
detained, he would be tortured and possibly killed by law
enforcement officers.


9. (C) Al-Munawer claimed that his recent detention was set
up by KSS and the Public Prosecutor. He recounted that while
departing Kuwait on his way to a conference in Egypt, he was
identified by a KSS officer who then contacted the Government
of Egypt and requested that Egypt refuse Al-Munawer entry.
Upon arrival in Egypt, he was sent immediately back to
Kuwait, where he was met by several KSS officers, who
interrogated him about Al-Dosari. Al-Munawer told them that
he did not know the whereabouts of Al-Dosari, chose not
discuss any details of the case out of concern of being
disbarred in Kuwait, and threatened to sue the officers
interrogating him. Because of this threat, Al-Munawer said
he was referred to the Public Prosecution, where a "baseless"
charge was leveled at him accusing him of giving Al-Dosari KD

250. He said that the information against him was provided
to KSS by an arrested terror suspect named "Maqbool" during
interrogation. Al-Munawer was then ordered detained for 19
days in a "comfortable cell" where he had access to
newspapers, had a telephone and television. He said the
Attorney General admitted to his father, who is also a
prominent lawyer, that the charges against him were
unfounded, but justified them because he said "Osama
(Al-Munawer) abuses us in the newspapers." Al-Munawer, whose
trial is still pending, was released on KD 2000 (approx USD
6,800) in February and a travel ban remains in place against
him.

The Problems With The Judicial System
--------------


10. (C) Al-Munawer said Kuwait's legal system was relatively
good, and judges were, to a great extent, independent, but
policies and procedures were not applied well. He recounted
how Justice Minister Ahmed Baqer made a statement following
the January 10 shoot-out in Maidan Hawalli promising that the
investigators would work closely with the Public Prosecutor's
office. "I was horrified because they should not work
together," he said, expressing concern that the Prosecutor's
office might improperly influence the investigation. In
addition, Al-Munawer said the Higher Judiciary Council (HJC)
has been known to reward members of the Public Prosecution
for bringing certain cases to trial. In one case, he
explained, the HJC awarded KD 200,000 to public prosecutors
who brought to trial the case of two Kuwaiti youths suspected
of attempting to bomb an Israeli trade office in Qatar.


11. (C) Commenting further on the judicial system, he said
that while he could not rule out the presence of a bias among
judges, he has never seen an example of such corruption. He
said that there were more Kuwaiti judges than non-Kuwaitis
and that the Kuwaitis were harsher in their verdicts. He
insisted that contrary to accusations of judicial leniency,
there have been several convicted militants who received long
sentences. Among these militants, he named Sami Al-Mutairi,
the January 2003 Camp Doha shooter who received 15 years for
killing an American contractor and wounding another; Abdulla
Al-Shimmari, who was sentenced on May 8 to eight years
(although Al-Munawer said Al-Shimmari received 15 years); and
another Kuwaiti he claimed received capital punishment.


12. (C) When asked whether he thought the judicial system
responds more harshly to anti-Islamic statements than to
weapons trafficking or terror-related activities, Al-Munawer
said he wasn't sure but that he does know that in the Kuwaiti
system there is a three-year sentence for an illegal weapons
offense and a five-year sentence for "encroaching upon the
honor of Prophet Mohammed." He said that Dr. Ahmed
Al-Baghdadi's recent one-year sentence (under appeal now) for
insulting Islam (ref. c) was "light" and stated that Yasser
Al-Habib, the Shi'ite convicted in absentia of insulting the
Companions of the Prophet (refs. e and f),had "encroached
upon the honor of Prophet Mohammed."

Criticism For The GOK
--------------


13. (C) Indirectly criticizing Prime Minister Shaykh Sabah
Al-Ahmed Al-Sabah, Al-Munawer said democracy "is practiced
everywhere in Kuwait -- superficially." He said that one
need only look at the actions of "the ones in power for the
last two years" to see that the GOK does not believe in
democracy. He accused the GOK of detaining "innocent"
people, harassing them, and then releasing them because there
is not enough evidence to prosecute them.


14. (C) Al-Munawer said the GOK charges that the
recently-declared Hezb Al-Ummah party is working to topple
the regime "are a farce" and the GOK is "pushing towards a
dark tunnel." Remarking on the newly-formed party's agenda
(ref. d) he said "they ask for the rotation of power and are
charged with trying to topple the regime? Unbelievable!"

Bio Note
--------------


15. (SBU) Osama Al-Munawer holds a B.A. in Law from Kuwait
University and works at the law firm of his father, Ahmed H.
Al-Munawer. He is a member of the Al-Rushaida tribe, speaks
very little English, and looks to be in his mid-30s. During
the occupation of Kuwait, he spent time in Egypt preparing
for the eventual liberation of Kuwait, where he trained with
U.S. forces. He entered Kuwait with Egyptian forces in 1991.
Two of his maternal uncles are former Islamist MP Mubarak
Al-Duwaila and current defense attorney for controversial
conservative political 'party' Hezb Al-Ummah, Nasser
Al-Duwaila.

*********************************************
Visit Embassy Kuwait's Classified Website:
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/kuwait/

You can also access this site through the
State Department's Classified SIPRNET website
*********************************************
LEBARON