ABDUCTION AND DEATH: ONE STORY TO ADD TO THE REST

S E C R E T BAGHDAD 001010 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/26/2026 TAGS: PHUM PTER PNAT KDEM IZ SUBJECT: ABDUCTION AND DEATH: ONE STORY TO ADD TO THE REST Classified By: Political Counselor Robert S. Ford for Reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (S) In a March 22 conversation, Baghdad resident Mo'ayyad Al-Hamdani told PolOff that three of his brothers-in-law visiting from Diyala were stopped at a Sadr-City Jaysh al-Mehdi (JAM) checkpoint March 15, and were found in the morgue 4 days later (March 19). Al-Hamdani, who is also a news editor of Al-Zawara television station, said that these relatives were detained after visiting Sadr City friends whom they knew from their time as vendors in the Jamila market. Unaware that the JAM had established checkpoints in Sadr City, they were immediately detained when they presented identification showing their Sunni Arab tribal name al-Duleimi. They were driven away from the checkpoint and found several days later on March 19 in the morgue with their eyes removed and evidence of drilling torture. (NOTE: al-Hamdani did not present evidence of the torture. END NOTE) ¶2. (S) Al-Hamdani said that the merchant friends in Sadr City immediately called his family once they saw the JAM take the brothers-in-law away. The Sadr City residents told his family that the three were taken into the Abil Muhsin Mosque near the Muthaffar roundabout near where they were stopped. Al-Hamdani was unclear whether the friends personally saw the three being taken into the mosque. ¶3. (S) Because of his position as a news editor, Al- Hamdani says that he was able to make several contacts to ask about the well-being of his relatives. Unwilling to disclose his sources, al-Hamdani alleged that Sheikh Abd al-Hadi al Daraji was in charge of the Abil Muhsin Mosque which he claims doubles as a sharia court. Although he says that he was unable to exert enough influence to prevent his family members from being executed, his checking around resulted in an unknown person calling him directly March 19 to let him know that the bodies would be deposited in the morgue that same day. Despite the tortured state in which he said he found the bodies, Al-Hamdani told PolOff that he considered that call to be a courtesy performed because of his contacts within the Shia community. KHALILZAD