ALLEGATIONS OF AT LEAST THREE LEAVING MOI COMPOUND

C O N F I D E N T I A L BAGHDAD 001929 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/07/2016 TAGS: PHUM KDEM IZ SUBJECT: ALLEGATIONS OF AT LEAST THREE LEAVING MOI COMPOUND KIDNAPPED AND KILLED Classified By: POLITICAL COUNSELOR MARGARET SCOBEY, FOR REASONS 1.4 (B) AND (D). ¶1. (C) Adamiyah District Council member and human rights lead Dr. Riyad al-Adhadh told EmbOffs June 1 that three Adamiyah residents were kidnapped and later killed as they were driving from the Ministry of Interior headquarters detention facility. According to Dr. Riyad, Mustafa Mu'aid Ibrahim, Afeef Ibrahim, and Mus'ab Abdulsattar went to visit a family member at the facility on May 22. As they were leaving, they were seen by another resident being stopped by men in MoI uniforms at an exit checkpoint. Later that day, family members received a call demanding a ransom. The bodies of two of the victims were found in the morgue several days later. ¶2. (SBU) On May 31, the Adamiyah District Council called a meeting to demand an investigation of this incident. Although residents claimed that 52 individuals have been abducted in a similar fashion, Dr. Riyad al-Adhadh to date has been unable to collect more than the three names noted above. On June 3, Shaykh Ahmed Abd al-Ghafour al-Samaraie, head of the Sunni Endowment, appeared on Al-Jazeera TV demanding the establishment of internal investigative committees to look into disappearances of individuals going to MoI detention facilities. Al-Samaraie called on the Prime Minister to dissolve renegade groups within the MoI, and asked the MoD to not only take responsibility for capturing these criminals, but to disarm suspect checkpoints. ¶3. (C) Comment: This incident has received extensive reaction within Baghdad's Sunni community partly because one of the victims, Mu'sab Abdulsattar, was the son-in-law of IIP leader Muhsen Abdul Hameed. It is consistent with other reports we have heard sporadically over the past few months. Many of our Sunni contacts report members of their community are afraid to visit relatives in MOI custody, for fear of being abducted or worse. KHALILZAD