CHALABI AIDE DISCUSSES DETAINEES, VIEWS ON GOI

C O N F I D E N T I A L BAGHDAD 001526

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/08/2017
TAGS: PGOV PINS PINR IZ
SUBJECT: CHALABI AIDE DISCUSSES DETAINEES, VIEWS ON GOI


Classified By: Deputy Political Counselor Charles Blaha for reasons 1.4
(B) and (D).


1. (C) Summary: An aide to Ahmad Chalabi, chairman of popular
mobilization for the Baghdad Security Plan (BSP),told PRToff
May 7 that Chalabi has received permission from the Ministry
of Defense (MOD) to place four lawyers each in three MOD
detention facilities in the greater Baghdad area. He also
said that Chalabi,s office has heard that Prime Minister
Maliki has fallen out of favor with Iran and that Iran would
like Deputy Prime Minister Adel Abdel Mehdi (SCIRI) to
replace him. End summary.

Chalabi to Post Lawyers in Three Baghdad Detention Facilities
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2. (C) An aide to Ahmad Chalabi, chairman of popular
mobilization for the Baghdad Security Plan (BSP),told PRToff
May 7 that Chalabi has received permission from the Minister
of Defense to post four lawyers each in three MOD detention
facilities in the greater Baghdad area. The aide, Wameed
Al-Mekhlibe, said the lawyers will start working next week at
the Rostumiya facility in Mada,in, the Adala facility in
Kadhimiya, and a third facility in Mahmoudiya. Al-Mekhlibe
added that Chalabi,s staff has received complaints that MOD
staff at these facilities are committing human rights abuses
and holding detainees for ransom.


3. (C) Al-Mekhlibe said Chalabi is trying to secure
permission to post lawyers in Ministry of Interior (MOI)
detention facilities but that the MOI is not cooperating.


4. (C) Comment: The Minister of Human Rights has expressed
her displeasure to Embassy PolOff concerning Chalabi,s BSP
popular mobilization strand prison inspections, which she
views as political grandstanding. However, in her last
meeting with PolOff on April 24, she said that there would
soon be a new committee to address detentions center
overcrowding, and this effort would include MoHR, MoJ, the
Higher Juridical Council -- and Chalabi would be included,
while MoI would be consulted. Chalabi,s scheme for posting
lawyers in MoD detention facilities could be a legitimate
part of this effort; however, Embassy will ask our rule of
law and and MoD experts to verify.

Aide Claims Iraqi Commandos Executed Sunnis in Amel
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5. (C) Al-Mekhlibe said Chalabi,s office has received
&credible8 reports that Iraqi commandos from the Wolf
Brigade executed eight Sunni civilians after a raid in the
Amel neighborhood of the Rashid district May 4. He said that
the commandos falsified an order to carry out a raid in the
area and entered the neighborhood with American forces, who
apparently believed the order was legitimate. Al-Mekhlibe
said Kurdish Army units operating in the area believed the
order to be legitimate due to the presence of U.S. forces.
He said the joint force arrested 12 Iraqis and the U.S.
soldiers left the area with the 12 in the commandos' custody.
He said the commandos took the 12 to a mosque; shortly
thereafter, gunshots were heard. Neighbors later found eight
of the 12 dead in the mosque. The other four were nowhere to
be found.

Chalabi Aide Discusses GOI Leaders
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6. (C) Al-Mekhlibe claimed Chalabi,s staff has heard that
Prime Minister Maliki has lost favor with Iran and that Iran
may try to force Maliki to step down and allow SCIRI Deputy
Prime Minister Adel Abdel Mehdi to become Prime Minister.
Al-Mekhlibe said Iran,s preference for Abdel Mehdi has
caused a rift between the Prime Minister and his deputy.


7. (C) When asked what he thinks about the GOI lifting
parliamentary immunity for Tawafuq member Adnan Al-Dulaymi,
Al-Mekhlibe said he welcomed the development because
Al-Dulaymi &has links to Sunni insurgents.8 Al-Mekhlibe
said Chalabi,s office has received complaints that
Al-Dulaymi,s guards have carried out dozens of kidnappings
and killings in the Adel neighborhood.


8. (C) Al-Mekhlibe said he expects that the GOI will
eventually lift parliamentary immunity for another Tawafuq
member, Mohammad Al-Dayani. He said Al-Dayani is believed to
have links to Al-Qaeda in Iraq.
SPECKHARD