SUNNI POLITICIANS SEEK COR INSPECTIONS OF

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 BAGHDAD 002012 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/18/2017 TAGS: PHUM KDEM PGOV PINR IZ SUBJECT: SUNNI POLITICIANS SEEK COR INSPECTIONS OF DETENTION CENTERS, SHOW INCREASED INTEREST IN HUMAN RIGHTS REF: A) 06 BAGHDAD 4141 B) BAGHDAD 819 C) 06 BAGHDAD 4451 D) BAGHDAD 1213 E) BAGHDAD 820 F) BAGHDAD 1974 Classified By: DEPUTY POLITICAL COUNSELOR ROBERT GILCHRIST FOR REASONS 1.4 (B,D). ¶1. (C) SUMMARY: The cross-sectarian Human Rights Committee of the Council of Representatives (CoR) has repeatedly voiced, especially through its Sunni representatives, a desire to conduct independent detention center inspections. Minister of Human Rights Wijdan Salim confirmed to PolOff June 13 that she opposes a prison inspections role for the Committee, due to concerns about its political motives. However, Ahmed Faze, deputy head of Sunni Deputy Prime Minister Salaam Zowbaie's Human Rights Office, on June 14 reported that his office had formed a committee together with the CoR Human Rights Committee to conduct detention center inspections. Complaining that his office had stopped receiving the Ministry of Human Rights' (MoHR) inspection reports, he pressed for US support for the initiative. This development indicates increasing emphasis and coordination among Sunni politicians on human rights issues, which may place more pressure on the MoHR and the GoI. END SUMMARY. -------------- -------------- HUMAN RIGHTS MINISTER OPPOSES COR-LED PRISON INSPECTIONS -------------- -------------- ¶2. (C) On June 13, Minister of Human Rights Wijdan Salim confirmed that due to concerns about sectarian agendas, she opposes CoR Human Rights Committee inspections of Iraqi and Multi-National Forces Iraq (MNF-I) operated detention centers. The Minister explained her view that the issue of detention centers is among the most politically controversial and must be handled carefully. The Minister also rejected the idea of including committee members on the joint detention center inspections that she leads. She said certain CoR Human Rights committee members might try to use information gathered during inspections to advance sectarian agendas through the media. The Minister said committee members have in the past attempted to conduct no-notice inspections without informing MoHR. Noting that only MoHR has the legal mandate to conduct such inspections, she said the committee could try to seek direct authorization from the Interior, Justice, and Defense Ministries to enter and 
inspect their detention centers. ¶3. (C) The Minister also expressed interest in increasing the frequency of the MoHR-led joint inspections, which MNF-I supports logistically. The last inspection occurred on February 21 at the Khadimiya 2nd National Police Division Headquarters detention center at Forward Operating Base (FOB) JUSTICE. (Note: Two inspections have been conducted under the auspices of the joint committee for inspecting Iraqi prisons and detention centers, since the Council of Ministers reinstated the committee on November 2, 2006. MoHR leads the committee, which includes representatives from the Inspector General (IG) Offices of MoHR; the Defense, Interior, Justice, and Health ministries; the Council of Ministers Secretariat; and the Public Prosecution Presidency. The inspections were suspended temporarily after the May 2006 inspection of the "Site 4" facility in Baghdad, where the joint inspection team discovered multiple abuse and torture victims (ref A). End note.) -------------- -------------- HUMAN RIGHTS COMMITTEE SEEKS PRISON INSPECTIONS ROLE -------------- -------------- ¶4. (C) Over the last few months, the CoR Human Right Committee has repeatedly sought US and Human Rights Ministry support for the committee's involvement in detention center inspections. For example, during a May 15 meeting with PolOff, Deputy Human Rights Committee Chair Dr. Harith Muhi al-Din Abid Al-Ubaidy (Tawafuq) asked that US forces help provide security for committee-led detention center inspections. During an April 10 meeting with PolOff, five members of the CoR Human Rights Committee, including its Chair, Muhammad Muhammad Salih Al-Haidari (Eitilaf),also voiced the committee's desire to participate in joint inspections of Iraqi detention centers and gain access to MNF-I detention centers. ¶5. (C) The Minister told PolOff on June 13 that representatives from the CoR Human Rights Committee had asked her many times to support their participation in inspections. Deputy Human Rights Committee Chair Al-Ubaidy, while noting on May 15 that Minister Wijdan "feels our pain," insisted that the committee needs US support. Other committee BAGHDAD 00002012 002 OF 003 members, like Shatha Munder Abd al-Razzaq al-Ebousy (Tawafuq),have complained that they have tried to coordinate with Minister Wijdan, but she is often difficult to reach. -------------- -------------- DEPUTY PM ZOWBAIE'S OFFICE SUPPORTS COR HR COMMITTEE -------------- -------------- ¶6. (C) On June 14, Ahmed Faze, deputy of Sunni Deputy PM Salaam Zowbaie's Human Rights Office, informed PolOff that his office had formed a committee with the CoR Human Rights Committee to perform detention center inspections. Faze also urged US support for CoR-led inspections. Faze argued that the CoR committee had the legal authority to conduct the inspections under Article 61 of the Constitution, which empowers the CoR to monitor the performance of the executive authority. He had previously revealed to PolOff his intention to form the committee during a May 7 meeting, during which Deputy PM Zowbaie stressed the importance of human rights. ¶7. (C) Faze claimed that Deputy PM Zowbaie's office had stopped receiving MoHR's detention center reports during the last month. He previously complained of the lateness of the ministry's reports, noting that the joint committee submitted its report for its February 21 inspection (of the 2nd National Police Division Headquarters detention center at Khadimiya at FOB JUSTICE) to the Council of Ministers on April 11. Iman Najim, Head of Human Rights in the Ministry of Defense's IG Office, separately informed PolOff that the report was completed and signed by her office a week after the inspection. -------------- COMMENT: COMPETING INTERESTS -------------- ¶8. (C) Promoting human rights, especially by maintaining oversight over detention centers, which have overwhelmingly Sunni detainee populations, continues to be an important issue on the Sunni political agenda (ref B). Sunni leaders will likely try to link human rights to other political issues. For example, Sunni VP Tareq al-Hashemi, citing concerns over human rights abuses, is apparently holding up a GoI request to the CoR to extend the officially declared state of emergency. ¶9. (C) The Sunni human rights agenda appears to be coordinated among the offices of VP al-Hashemi, Deputy PM Zowbaie, and the CoR Human Rights Committee. This kind of coordination is not unprecedented, as al-Hashemi and Zowbaie had jointly protested the arrest and torture of nine of Tawafuq bloc leader Adnan Dulaymi's guards in late 2006 (ref C). ¶10. (C) Minister Wijdan's concern about a sectarian, Sunni agenda underlying the Human Rights Committee's interest in oversight over detention centers may be valid. She was equally skeptical of political motives behind similar inspections that Shiite politician Dr. Ahmed Chalabi organized under the Baghdad Security Plan (ref D). As a Chaldean Christian, the Minister's stake in the detention issue appears purely political, rather than sectarian. Her assessment that greater media exposure of prison conditions would inflame sectarian tensions is also valid, although torture within Iraqi prisons has already been widely reported. ¶11. (C) Minister Wijdan seems to be balancing her frustration over insufficient support from the Prime Minister's Office for MoHR's inspections and her suspicions that the CoR Human Rights committee has sectarian interests (ref E). Exhibiting some inconsistency, she did not present findings from the February 21 joint detention center inspection until April 11, although the report was reportedly complete by the end of February. Her suggestion that CoR's Human Rights Committee directly seek the Interior ministry's permission to inspect its detention centers also contradicts her own complaints about the Interior Ministry's lack of cooperation with MoHR's inspections. ¶12. (C) The CoR Human Rights Committee's concerns will likely not be easily dismissed, especially if members from the committee participate in the Council of Ministers drafting committee for the newly proposed Human Rights Ministry and High Commission on Human Rights laws (ref F). Post will press MoHR to perform more joint inspections and share more timely information on detention center conditions with the CoR Human Rights Committee and the Deputy PM's Human Rights Office. END COMMENT. BAGHDAD 00002012 003 OF 003 -------------- A MULTI-SECTARIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMITTEE -------------- ¶13. (C) CoR's Human Rights Committee is multi-sectarian, with the most vocal proponents of committee-led detention inspections being Sunni members from the Tawafuq party. The names and party affiliations of the thirteen committee members are as follows: -- Committee Chair Muhammad Muhammad Salih Al-Haidari (Eitilaf) -- Committee Deputy Chair Dr. Harith Muhi al-Din Abid Al-Ubaidy (Tawafuq) -- Ahlam As'ad Muhammad Mustafa (Kurdish Alliance) -- Haifa Majli J'afar Al-Helfy (Eitilaf) -- Shatha Munder Abd al-Razzaq al-Ebousy (Tawafuq) -- Gian Kamil Hasan (Kurdish Alliance) -- Amir Thamer Ali Al-Karam (Eitilaf) -- Omar Ali Husayn (KIU) -- Amina Ghadban Mubarak al-Fayadh (Tawafuq) -- Aida Shareef Tawfeeq Ussayran (Iraqiyya) -- Ejara'a Faisal Odah (Eitilaf) -- Hanin Mahmud Ahmad al-Qeddo (Eitilaf) -- Fathiya Abdul Haleem Abdul Kareem (Eitilaf) CROCKER