TERRORIST FINANCE - OTTAWA: GOC LIKELY TO PROCEED

S E C R E T OTTAWA 001755 SIPDIS STATE FOR EB/ESC/TFS (MBRUNO),S/CT (TKUSHNER),IO/PHO (BFITZGERALD),SA/A (DPUGH) AND WHA/CAN TREASURY (JZARATE),AND OFAC (RWERNER) NSC (KEMERSON) E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/30/2015 TAGS: EFIN ETTC PREL PTER CVIS KVPR KTFN CA AF SUBJECT: TERRORIST FINANCE - OTTAWA: GOC LIKELY TO PROCEED WITH DOMESTIC LISTING OF "HEZB-E-ISLAMI HEMATYAR FACTION" REF: OTTAWA 1703 Classified By: Wendy Moore, Economics Counselor, Ottawa. Reason: 1.4( e). ¶1. (S) Reftel reported that the GOC is proceeding with consideration of listing HIG domestically under Canada's Criminal Code but would solicit input from the USG and the Government of Afghanistan. On June 8, Foreign Affairs Canada informed post that FM Minister Abdullah, during a meeting in the The Hague, had consulted with President Karzai, who agreed that using the phrase "Hezb-e-Islami Hekmatyar faction" would be acceptable to the GOA. Deputy Ministers also agreed to that language during a June 7 interagency meeting, so that is likely to be the proposal considered by Ministers on June 14. ¶2. (S) On June 9, Embassy Ottawa's Political Liaison office received four pages of background from Canada's intelligence agency (CSIS) that we will transmit electronically. The paper describes criteria for listing under Canada's Criminal Code, the origins and history of HIG and Hekmatyar, ideology and structure, association with al Qaida, methods of operations, threats to Canadians in Afghanistan, and a chronology. They note that they did not focus on intelligence about the group's Canadian activities as that is not an essential element of their legal argument. One point they mention is that under the Criminal Code, the GOC has to establish that the entity is politically or ideologically motivated and carries out (or has carried out) acts of violence to achieve its goals. ¶3. (S) Comment: It sounds as if the GOC believes it has enough information to list HIG under the criminal code and is comfortable doing so with wording that indicates it is Hekmatyar-affiliated members of the Hizb al Islami that they are focused on. This would be a domestic listing, not a UN designation, although it could possibly put some pressure on them to proceed with a UN designation. End Comment. Visit Canada's Classified Web Site at http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/wha/ottawa DICKSON