KUWAITI "AHWAZ ACTIVIST" MEETS WITH EUROPEAN

S E C R E T KUWAIT 004580 SIPDIS NOFORN SIPDIS STATE FOR NEA/IR AND NEA/ARP E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/05/2016 TAGS: PGOV PINR IR KU KUWAIT IRAN RELATIONS SUBJECT: KUWAITI "AHWAZ ACTIVIST" MEETS WITH EUROPEAN EMBASSIES, CLAIMS USG SUPPORT Classified By: DCM Matt Tueller for reason 1.4 (d) ¶1. (S/NF) Over the past several months, a Kuwaiti in his mid-fifties named Faisal Al-Khazal has met with several European embassies in Kuwait to enlist their support for his alleged Ahwazi opposition group. (Note: Ahwaz is the Arabized name of the capital of Khuzestan, a predominantly Arab province in Western Iran near Iraq. End note.) Al-Khazal claims to be a descendant of Shaykh Khazal Khan, the last Arab ruler of Khuzestan, and runs a website devoted to Ahwaz issues: www.stateofarabistan.org. Several European Ambassadors who met with Khazal at his request told Poloffs that Khazal claimed to have close connections to the U.S. Embassy in Kuwait and to receive unspecified U.S. support. When asked if this were true, Poloffs responded that we were unfamiliar with Khazal and did not provide him support. (Comment: While at the Embassy for consular services in September, Khazal complained to Conoffs about "persecution" in Kuwait and asked for U.S. assistance in establishing Ahwaz-focused NGOs in the U.S. Conoffs advised him that they were not responsible for these issues and refused his request. No other State officials have met with him apart from this. End comment.) ¶2. (S/NF) Khalil Delavi, an Iranian Ahwaz activist living in Kuwait for more than 30 years, told Poloff December 4 that Khazal was "crazy" and had "no relation at all to the Khazal family." According to both Delavi and the Austrian Ambassador to Kuwait, Khazal claims to have met personally with Secretary Rice and U/S Burns. Delavi, a member of the Democratic Solidarity Party of Al-Ahwaz, said Khazal even forged Secretary Rice's signature on a letter he sent to the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization (www.unpo.org),a copy of which Delavi said he would try to obtain. ********************************************* * For more reporting from Embassy Kuwait, visit: http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/kuwait/?cable s Visit Kuwait's Classified Website: http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/kuwait/ ********************************************* * LEBARON