APPARENT KIDNAPPING OF DIYALA HEALTH DG FROM

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BAGHDAD 002047

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/17/2016
TAGS: PGOV PTER IZ
SUBJECT: APPARENT KIDNAPPING OF DIYALA HEALTH DG FROM
INSIDE MINISTRY OF HEALTH

Classified By: Political Counselor Margaret Scobey for
reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)


1. (U) This is a PRT Diyala cable.


2. (C) SUMMARY: The apparent kidnapping of Diyala's top
health official and three companions from inside the
Ministry of Health June 12 has raised considerable
consternation among Diyala Sunnis. Local officials in
the Iraqi Islamic Party, of which the kidnap victims were
members, claim that pressure from Vice President Tariq
al-Hashemi has spurred an investigation by the Ministry
of Interior. The kidnap victims have not, however, been
found. Diyala Sunnis' already existing fears that no
place in Baghdad is safe for them seem to have been
realized. END SUMMARY.


3. (C) POLOFF received successive calls on the evening of
June 12 from the Auwf Rahoumi al-Rubei'i, Deputy Governor
of Diyala and an IIP member; Hamdi Hassoun al-Zubaidi,
Chairman of the IIP in Diyala; and Hafiz Abdulaziz al-
Juburi, Assistant Governor for Administrative Affairs and
an IIP member. All three sources claimed that Dr. Ali
al-Mahdawi, the Director-General of Health in Diyala, had
been kidnapped that morning from within the Ministry of
Health. POLOFF continued to follow up with all three
sources.


4. (C) According to all three sources, Mahdawi received a
telephone call on June 11 from the office of the Minister
of Health, informing him that the Minister wished to meet
with him at 0930 on June 12. Mahdawi arrived at the
Ministry of Health in Baghdad between 0900-0930, in a
three vehicle convoy; only one vehicle was allowed to
enter the Ministry compound. Passengers in the Land
Cruiser allowed to enter included Mahdawi, his brother,
his driver, and a bodyguard.


5. (C) By around 1100, there was no sign of Dr. Ali, and
occupants of the cars that had not been allowed inside -
who formed the rest of Mahdawi's protective detail -
became uneasy. Members of the detail attempted to
contact Dr. Ali and his companions by telephone, but were
unable to make contact. Finally, at approximately 1200,
one of the bodyguards received a call from Mahdawi, who
told him "in a shaky voice" that the two cars should
return to Ba'qubah. Mahdawi told them his car would
return later, "by the old route" - a reference to the
road that connects Baghdad to Ba'quba by way of Mada'in
and Nahrawan (an area of substantial JaM activity) and
South Buhriz, (an area of substantial insurgent/AQIZ
activity). Because of the insecure nature of this road,
it would be very unusual choice for a high-profile
official; the bodyguards believed that this was an
attempt by Mahdawi to alert them to the fact that he had
been kidnapped.


6. (C) Rather than returning to Ba'qubah, Mahdawi's
guards contacted Mahdawi's son, who in turn contacted the
provincial IIP leadership. Diyala's IIP leaders quickly
alerted the national leadership. By the afternoon of
June 12, they say, VP Hashemi was arranging for a force
from the Ministries of Interior and Defense to enter the
Ministry of Health and conduct an investigation into the
apparent kidnap. According to Zubaidi, the
investigation, conducted on the evening of June 12, did
not recover any of the disappeared persons. It did,
however, establish (based on the visitors logs at both
the entrance of the Ministry and at the Minister's
office) that Mahdawi had not only entered the Ministry,
but had seen the Minister.


7. (C) Mahdawi would be the second top Diyala MOH
official to be kidnapped in Baghdad in six weeks. On
April 22, Dr. Faris Taha al-'Azzawi, Diyala's MOH
Director of Planning and the primary POC with CF, was
kidnapped. He had traveled to Baghdad to secure the
release of his brother, who had been arrested after
killing two of a group of JaM members who had allegedly
been attacking his family home in Baghdad. 'Azzawi's
body was found with marks of torture several days later.


8. (C) COMMENT: If indeed the Diyala Director-General of
Health and companions have been kidnapped from within the
Sadrist-controlled Ministry of Health, it will likely
provoke reprisals in Diyala. Mahdawi is very well-
connected within the IIP (as evidenced by the quick
reaction to his capture) and the Sunni community at
large, and his abduction is assumed to have been a brazen
intimidation attempt by the Jaysh al-Mahdi. According to

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Diyala's Deputy Governor, in a conversation with a PRT
interpreter June 7, the IIP had nominated Mahdawi as a
candidate for the position of Deputy Minister of Health;
Sunnis here are assuming that the abduction was the
Minister's way of saying "no." End comment.


SPECKHARD