JORDANIAN REACTION TO THE SUICIDES AT GUANTANAMO

C O N F I D E N T I A L AMMAN 004388 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/15/2016 TAGS: PGOV PREL KISL JO SUBJECT: JORDANIAN REACTION TO THE SUICIDES AT GUANTANAMO BAY REF: A. AMMAN 4374 ¶B. AMMAN 4245 Classified By: CDA Daniel Rubinstein for Reasons 1.4 (b),(d) ¶1. (C) SUMMARY: Jordan's Islamic Action Front (IAF) described the prisoner suicides at Guantanamo Bay as "heartbreaking news," while the head of the Islamist-led professional associations condemned the "killing" of the three prisoners. Members of Parliament and the press issued more measured, but still negative comments. Overshadowed by the death of Abu Mus'ab al-Zarqawi, the Guantanamo suicide story prompted little reaction outside the media. END SUMMARY. IAF RESPONSE -------------- ¶2. (U) Sheikh Hamza Mansour, President of the IAF Shura Council, wrote in Islamist weekly Al-Sabeel that the "heartbreaking news" of the suicide of three Guantanamo prisoners is of "great consequence." Mansour alleged that the Guantanamo inmates "do not enjoy the most basic human rights," and he claimed that the countries whose citizens are imprisoned at the facility have failed to press for their release due to U.S. pressure. Mansour concluded by asking if God or future generations would forgive the "crime" of government silence in the face of the "torture" of Guantanamo prisoners. PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS STATEMENT -------------- ¶3. (U) Jordan's Islamist-led Professional Associations Council (PAC) issued a statement strongly condemning the "killing" of the three Guantanamo prisoners. The PAC rejected the "allegations" of the U.S. that the prisoners had committed suicide - noting that suicide is forbidden in Islam. The head of the Medical Practitioner's association, Dr. Hashim Abu Hassan, decried publicly the supposed lack of international guarantees to "safeguard" the condition of Guantanamo prisoners. PARLIAMENTARIANS COMMENT -------------- ¶4. (C) MP Ra'id Qaqish (East Banker, Balqa) told Pol FSN that he believed the suicides were "an act of protest" resulting from considerable stress, and claimed that the U.S. is pursuing a double standard: "On one hand, the U.S. hides behind human rights slogans, while on the other hand its violates human rights." Qaqish continued that the U.S. decision not to join the International Criminal Court indicates the U.S. is "not serious about human rights." ¶5. (C) MP Imad Ma'aya (East Banker, Madaba) said that although he felt sorry for the prisoners "from a human perspective," he nevertheless felt that they were "criminals," and that frustration had led them to take their own lives. Ma'aya strongly doubted that the prisoners were "killed," but asserted that the U.S. sent "young, immature officers" to run prisons "without enough experience and training." PRESS REACTION -------------- ¶6. (U) In a June 15 editorial in leading independent daily Al-Ghad, columnist Manar Rashwani speculated that President Bush,s reaction to the suicides - an expression of deep concern - was an implicit acknowledgment of responsibility. Rashwani wrote that every act of "torture" committed against a prisoner at Guantanamo is, according to the Geneva convention, a war crime perpetrated by the U.S. against presumably innocent people. Rashwani concluded by asking if anyone could convince the U.S. "to stop its terrorism." ¶7. (U) Al-Dustour columnist Hussein Rawashdeh wrote on June 14: "Guantanamo has become a witness to the misery of the Western Civilization that is in cahoots with the American immoral model of dealing with human beings. It is sad that the voice of the Islamic world, whose citizens are being targeted by inhumane practices, is absent. We hope that those who admire the "western" model recognize the illusion of civilization and will not hesitate to condemn and reject this recklessness towards human rights and human dignity." COMMENT -------------- ¶8. (U) Local reaction to the suicides at Guantanamo has been largely muted by the high-profile news of the death of Abu-Mus'ab al-Zarqawi, and the controversy surrounding the arrest of four Islamist MPs who paid a condolence call on Zarqawi's family (ref B). Local interest would have undoubtedly been greater if one of the deceased prisoners had been Jordanian, rather than from the Arabian peninsula. Rubinstein