SUNNI HUMAN RIGHTS COMMITTEE DEPUTY VISITS

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BAGHDAD 002579 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/03/2017 TAGS: PHUM KDEM PGOV PINR IZ SUBJECT: SUNNI HUMAN RIGHTS COMMITTEE DEPUTY VISITS KHADIMIYA NATIONAL POLICE DETENTION CENTER WITH SHI'A PARLIAMENTARIANS REF: A. BAGHDAD 1378 ¶B. BAGHDAD 2479 ¶C. BAGHDAD 2503 ¶D. BAGHDAD 2398 Classified By: POLITICAL COUNSELOR MATT TUELLER FOR REASONS 1.4 (B) and (D). ¶1. (C) SUMMARY: Council of Representatives (CoR) Human Rights Committee Deputy Dr. Harith Al-Ubaidy (Tawafuq) told PolOff on July 31 he noted better conditions during his July 26 visit to the Khadimiya 2nd National Police (NP) Division detention center at Forward Operating Base JUSTICE (also known as "Adalah"),than during his previous visit a few months before, although one detainee told him that he had been tortured onsite. Al-Ubaidy said he visited the facility on July 26 with a mixed-sect group of five other parliamentarians, mostly from the CoR's Security and Defense Committee, at the invitation of the committee's chair, Hadi Farhan Al-Amiri (Eitilaf-Badr). He said that the committee had tough discussions with 2nd NP Commander Major General (MG) Kareem Ali Chazrage and detention center commander Colonel (COL) Thamir Mohammed Ismail Husseini about alleged torture at the facility. Al-Ubaidy said that MG Kareem pledged to work with the committee to improve conditions in the facility. He praised the new detention center building (under construction) that the committee toured during its visit. END SUMMARY. -------------- MIXED-SECT COMMITTEE VISITS ADALAH -------------- ¶2. (C) On July 31, CoR Human Rights Committee Deputy Harith Al-Ubaidy, a Sunni, told PolOff that CoR Security and Defense Committee Chair Hadi Al-Amiri, a Shi'a, on July 25 asked him to visit Adalah detention center with his committee on July 26, noting it was "his pleasure" to invite him. Al-Ubaidy said he was unsure of the arrangements that led to the visit, but reported that the parliamentary group visiting Adalah was mixed-sect, also including Hassan Dekan al-Janabi (Tawafuq), Hassan Hashim Al-Rubayee (Eitilaf-Sadrist),Amel Seham Al-Qadhi (Tawafuq),and Adil Tawfiq Rashid Berwari (KDP). Al-Ubaidy said that the only other non-Security and Defense Committee-member was Amel Seham Al-Qadhi, who serves on the CoR's Committee on Integrity, which follows up on government corruption cases. He noted that after the visit, he wrote a report of his findings for the Human Rights Committee, while Al-Qadhi wrote a report for Tawafuq leader Adnan Dulaimi. (Note: By invitation of Iraqi authorities, Los Angeles Times journalists and photographers toured Adalah on July 19 and published a report on July 21, before the committee's visit. End note.) -------------- AL-UBAIDY: "BETTER" CONDITIONS AT ADALAH -------------- ¶3. (C) Al-Ubaidy said the committee met no resistance when it entered the Adalah facility on July 26 and was able to view all the cells -- one large room and four smaller rooms. He said this contrasted with his first visit with Human Rights Committee members a few months earlier, during which he argued with guards for over an hour in order to gain entry, and then was only allowed to enter one cell (ref A). Al-Ubaidy criticized the overcrowding and inadequate healthcare he observed, stating that overcrowding had helped spread skin diseases and caused the air-conditioned cells to overheat, and there was no medicine for the detainees. He said conditions were "better" than during his first visit, and there were signs of progress such as a "wonderful" clinic he toured in a nearly completed building next to the current facility. He said that some detainees with whom he spoke privately praised several detention center guards who treated them well. ¶4. (C) In a separate conversation with PolOff on July 30, Human Rights Minister Wijdan Salim said Hassan Hashim Al-Rubayee (Eitilaf-Sadrist) -- one of the parliamentarians visiting Adalah on July 26 -- told her Adalah has good electricity, air conditioning, and satellite television for the detainees, and the detention center was constructing a new building. -------------- AL-UBAIDY: DETAINEES ALLEGE TORTURE -------------- BAGHDAD 00002579 002 OF 002 ¶5. (C) Al-Ubaidy said that he personally spoke to three detainees who alleged they were tortured onsite at an Iraqi detention facility -- one at Adalah, and two at the Ministry of Defense's (MoD) 5th Brigade, 6th Division facility at Camp Honor in the International Zone (IZ),before their transfers to Adalah. He noted the detainee who alleged he was beaten severely at Adalah had blood coming out of his ears and mouth. He said that one detainee, who wept as he reported being tortured at the MoD's 5th Brigade, 6th Division facility, alleged that his torturers inserted a stick into his rectum and threatened to assault his wife sexually. Al-Ubaidy said the detainee alleged he had been arrested at a checkpoint in the Jamia district of Baghdad for protesting the way an Iraqi soldier approached the passenger-side of the car, where his wife was sitting. -------------- -------------- AL-UBAIDY: 2ND NP COMMANDER TO WORK WITH COMMITTEE -------------- -------------- ¶6. (C) Al-Ubaidy said that the committee had tough discussions with 2nd NP Commander MG Kareem Ali Chazrage and detention center commander COL Thamir Mohammed Ismail Husseini about alleged torture at the facility. (Note: The July 21 Los Angeles Times report on Adalah quoted reports by unnamed U.S. officials that COL Thamir is connected to Jaysh al-Mahdi militia, loyal to Muqtada Sadr. End note.) He reported that COL Thamir asked him why he was so focused on maintaining the human rights of detainees, rather than the human rights of those harmed by their terrorism. Al-Ubaidy said that he assured COL Thamir that he wanted to promote the human rights of all people, and he believes justice officials who know but do not follow the law, should be punished. According to Al-Ubaidy, MG Kareem phoned him after the visit and said he wanted to "correct mistakes" related to the detention center. He added that MG Kareem said he and detention center leadership would work with the committee towards those efforts. -------------- Al-UBAIDY ON FUTURE INSPECTIONS -------------- ¶7. (C) Al-Ubaidy said the group of parliamentarian that went to Adalah would try to visit more detention centers together in the future. He said that he felt the visit to Adalah was good, and hoped for more opportunities to observe conditions and make direct contact with detainees in other detention centers. -------------- COMMENT -------------- ¶8. (C) Although Security and Defense Committee Chair Hadi Al-Amiri invited Harith Al-Ubaidy to visit Adalah on July 25, the same day that Tawafuq issued its 11 point pre-withdrawal ultimatum demands (including a demand for inspections of detainee centers by human rights organizations) to the Maliki government, it is unknown whether Tawafuq's ultimatum actually triggered the invitation (ref B). Al-Amiri's inclusion of Al-Ubaidy and Amel Seham Al-Qadhi appeared to be a conscious effort to produce a multi-sectarian and interdisciplinary evaluation of the Adalah facility, which Vice President Tariq Al-Hashimi and the human rights staff of Sunni Deputy Prime Minister Salam Zowbaie -- who resigned from government with five other Tawafuq ministers on August 1 -- complained about specifically (ref C and D). However, it is also unknown whether the July 26 Adalah visit was pre-announced to detention facility staff. Tawafuq had demanded unannounced inspections of detention facilities by "NGOs, activists, and legists;" however, it is not known whether further inspections by parliamentary committee, even if unannounced, would in Tawafuq's view, help fulfill this demand. ¶9. (C) As of July 31, Harith Al-Obeidy apparently intended to return to work in September after the CoR recess (which is consistent with reports that, for now at least, Tawafuq's CoR members do not intend to resign from the Parliament). He noted plans to do more human rights work in the future. CROCKER