SECURITY TIGHT AS SHI'A CELEBRATE ASHOURA

C O N F I D E N T I A L KUWAIT 000766 SIPDIS STATE FOR NEA/ARPI E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/19/2015 TAGS: KISL PREL PHUM KU SUBJECT: SECURITY TIGHT AS SHI'A CELEBRATE ASHOURA REF: A. KUWAIT 274 ¶B. KUWAIT 036 ¶C. 04 KUWAIT 1346 Classified By: CDA Matthew Tueller for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) ¶1. (U) Summary: Kuwaiti and expatriate Shiites celebrated Ashoura on the evenings of February 18 and 19 under heavy police protection after militants seized in the GOK's month-long offensive against extremism reportedly revealed they had planned to attack Shiite celebrations. Kuwait's estimated 300,000-strong indigenous Shiite population has enjoyed a general upsurge in political and legal rights since the liberation of Iraq, peaking last year with a public reenactment of the Battle of Karbala during the festival commemorating the death of the Prophet Mohammed's grandson, Imam Hussein. Although this year's reenactment was denied, a prominent Shi'a cleric believed the overall situation of Kuwait's Shiite community had improved. End Summary. ¶2. (U) Husseiniyas, tents and Shiite mosques -- many guarded by a heavy marked police presence -- were packed full of observant Shiites the evening of February 18 when PolMilOff attended four separate gatherings celebrating the Shiite holy day of Ashoura. Thousands of participants, many of them Farsi-speaking Iranian nationals, sang songs, shared in feasts and performed ritual self-flagellation with chains during the course of the evening. (Note: PolMilOff was invited to and warmly received at all events. End Note.) ¶3. (C) The GOK mobilized security forces to protect Shiite gatherings after detained Sunni militants detailed plans they had had to attack Shiite mosques and Husseiniyas during Ashoura. The head of Kuwait's Shiite Clerics Congregation, Mohammed Baquer Al-Mohri, told Poloff February 15 that the GOK had provided excellent security cooperation in the days preceding Ashoura and that Shiites in Kuwait were feeling an unprecedented sense of unity in light of the threats against them. He added that Shiites "feel safer" because the government has shown it will not tolerate violence. ¶4. (C) While lamenting the fact that Shi'a would not be allowed to publicly reenact the Battle of Karbala, as they had in 2004 (ref. C),Al-Mohri, who had weeks before complained bitterly about unfairness by the GOK (ref. A), said that Shiites in the region had been "deprived for 30 years" but were currently experiencing "more freedoms." In 2004, Kuwait witnessed a rise in the number of approved Shiite mosque building permits, the establishment of a Jaafari (Shiite) Waqf, and general and unprecedented political muscle flexing by Kuwait's Shiite population. ¶5. (C) Comment: The denial of Shiite requests to reenact the Battle of Karbala again occured before the GOK's anti-extremist crackdown and may have been part of efforts at the time to placate Sunni extremists. (Note: The government's only Shiite Minister resigned this year amid scandal (ref. B). The GOK usually refuses to accept such resignations, a practice it did not follow in this case. End Note.) Faced with a wave of Sunni extremism, however, the government appears to have abandoned this tactic. It remains to be seen if the GOK -- traditionally wary of the Shi'a population -- is actually committed to expanding Shiite rights or is just reacting to a possible security threat. TUELLER