UPDATE ON HADI AL-MUTIF

S E C R E T RIYADH 008808 SIPDIS SIPDIS LONDON FOR TSOU, PARIS FOR ZEYA DEPT FOR NEA/ARP (SHUKAN),INL, DRL, PRM E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/07/2015 TAGS: PHUM PGOV PREL KISL KIRF SA SUBJECT: UPDATE ON HADI AL-MUTIF REF: A. RIYADH 8671 ¶B. NOVEMBER 6 2006 U.S. COMMISSION ON INTERNATIONAL RELIGIOUS FREEDOM (USCIRF) PRESS STATEMENT "SAUDI ARABIA: USCIRF CONCERNED BY MISLEADING CLAIMS ABOUT RELEASE OF RELIGIOUS PRISONERS ¶C. RIYADH 8725 Classified By: Deputy Chief of Mission Michael Gfoeller for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (S) PolOffs met on November 6 with Human Rights First Society (HRFS) President Ibrahim Al-Mugaiteeb to discuss the October 31 and November 1 visit of King Abdullah to Najran and his pardon of Ismaili prisoners, ostensibly including Hadi Al-Mutif. Al-Mugaiteeb said that Al-Mutif has not been released from prison even though Saudis widely believe that he was included in the pardon of Ismaili prisoners announced by the King on October 31 (Ref A) (NOTE: Ministry of Interior officials confirmed for Post earlier on November 6 that Al-Mutif had not been released. END NOTE.) Al-Mugaiteeb believes that Interior Minister Prince Naif decided on his own that the King's pardon would not include Al-Mutif. Al-Mugaiteeb urged the USG to pressure the SAG to ensure that the King's pardon specifically included Al-Mutif and that it immediately release Al-Mutif from prison. ¶2. (C) Al-Mutif has been in prison since 1994. Al-Mugaiteeb said that Al-Mutif was originally given a death sentence for blasphemy but claimed that, despite reports to the contrary, then King Fahd never commuted Al-Mutif's sentence to life or to 14 years. Instead, King Fahd only stopped the execution of Al-Mutif. Al-Mugaiteeb claimed that Al-Mutif is serving a precarious, undefined sentence which is why he staged a hunger strike at the beginning of September. Al-Mugaiteeb added that it is unclear whether the death sentence could be implemented because there has never been an documentation that this sentence was commuted. ¶3. (C) According to Al-Mugaiteeb, Al-Mutif will begin another hunger strike on November 13 and simultaneously announce his affiliation with HRFS. While acknowledging that the SAG reacts negatively to public pressure, especially by the USG, Al-Mugaiteeb insisted that the USG should pressure the SAG to pardon and release Al-Mutif. Al-Mugaiteeb announced that USCIRF would release a press statement on November 6 advocating that Al-Mutif be released (Ref B). (NOTE: The USCIRF statement advocated the pardon and release of all Ismaili prisoners. It implied that Al-Mutif was a religious prisoner similar to the Ismailis who were imprisoned for the April 2000 protests against SAG seizure of an Ismaili shrine and religious leaders. It contained contradictory information, stating at one point that Al-Mutif had served "nearly 15 years" in prison, then later stating that he was sentenced in 1994. END NOTE). ¶4. (S) Al-Mugaiteeb cited the confusion over the King's pardon and Al-Mutif's fate as an example of the lack of rule of law in the KSA. Al-Mugaiteeb claimed that Prince Naif's stubbornness accounts for his apparent disregard for the King's wishes. Al-Mugaiteeb implied that Prince Naif and Najran Regional Governor Prince Mishael bin Saud take a personal interest in discriminating against and persecuting Ismailis in Najran. Al-Mugaiteeb could not account for how Prince Naif and Prince Mishael can openly defy King Abdullah in terms of refusing to apply the King's pardon to Al-Mutif and release him from prison. (NOTE: Reportedly, in April 2001, Prince Naif and Prince Mishael defied then Crown Prince Abdullah when they did not act as he directed regarding a letter of grievances against them submitted by a delegation of Ismaili leaders. Reportedly, the Crown Prince promised to address the Ismailis' grievances, but, instead, Prince Naif and Prince Mishael arrested the Ismaili leaders. Subsequently, a month later, all but one of the Ismaili leaders were released. END NOTE). -------------- COMMENT -------------- ¶5. (S) The confusion over the pardons in Najran highlights systemic problems with rule of law in the KSA. SAG decisions are not always in writing and therefore create confusion -- as is the case with Al-Mutif's status. Conservative Sunni clerics consider the Najran Ismailis to be heretics. Prince Naif's reported efforts to keep an Ismaili blasphemer in prison would be consonant with Naif's effort to maintain close ties to the Sunni Ulemah. END COMMENT. OBERWETTER