REFUGEE ADMISSIONS REFERRAL: Zainab Mohamed Ibrahim Adham

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 CAIRO 000934 SIPDIS SIPDIS SENSITIVE DEPT FOR PRM/A LIZ HARRIS; DHS FOR BCIS HEADQUARTERS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREF PHUM EG IZ SUBJECT: REFUGEE ADMISSIONS REFERRAL: Zainab Mohamed Ibrahim Adham REF: State 326248 SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED; PLEASE PROTECT ACCORDINGLY ¶1. (SBU) Embassy Cairo would like to refer the following Iraqi to the US Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP): Principal Applicant (PA): Name: Zainab Mohamed Ibrahim Adham (a.k.a. Zainab Mohammed Adham) DOB: Dec. 06, 1967 POB: Baghdad, Iraq Gender: Female Religion: Moslem/Sunni Marital Status: Married Dependents: Name: Hazim Abd Al Wahab Amin Al Taii DOB: 16OCT1963 POB: Baghdad, Iraq Gender: Male Marital Status: Married Religion: Moslem/Sunni Relation to PA: Husband Name: Sara Hazim Abd Al Wahab Amin Al Taii DOB: 05APR1989 POB: Baghdad, Iraq Gender: Female Marital Status: Single Religion: Moslem/Sunni Relation to PA: Daughter Name: Selma Hazim Abd Al Wahab Amin Al Taii DOB: 17NOV1992 POB: Baghdad, Iraq Gender: Female Marital Status: Single Religion: Moslem/Sunni Relation to PA: Daughter Name: Sura Hazim Abd Al Wahab Amin Al Taii DOB: 12APR1997 POB: Baghdad, Iraq Gender: Female Marital Status: Single Religion: Moslem/Sunni Relation to PA: Daughter Name: Lina Hazim Abd Al Wahab Amin Al Taii (a.k.a. Aisha Hazim Abd Al Wahab Amin Al Taii) DOB: 27 FEB2000 POB: Baghdad, Iraq Gender: Female Marital Status: Single Religion: Moslem/Sunni Relation to PA: Daughter ¶2. (SBU) Description of applicant's persecution claim: Zainab Adham worked as an Information Resources Assistant in the Cultural Affairs Office of US Embassy Baghdad, starting in August 2005. She became increasingly fearful moving in and out of the Green Zone as violence increased. She resigned from her position in October 2006, after militias attacked her neighborhood, took over her house and property and killed a neighbor. She was identified as an employee of the U.S. Embassy and was called a "traitor" and was threatened with death if she was found by the militias. ¶3. (SBU) Zainab said her family lived in a southeast neighborhood in Baghdad for more than 15 years. Between late 2005 through 2006, the level of violence increased in her neighborhood and she said that Sunni families were regularly targeted and attacked by Shia militias, making her increasingly fearful because she and her family are Sunnis. Further, she said that while her neighbors did not know that both Zainab and her husband were working for the US Embassy and a USG-contractor, respectively, she became increasingly worried that this information would become known. In August 2006, when Zainab was attending a US-sponsored conference in Abu Dhabi, armed militia (she believes it was the Shia Mahadi militia) attacked her neighborhood, and began shooting and killing Sunnis in the neighborhood. These attacks went on for three days, and at least one Sunni neighbor, who lived on the same street as her family, was killed. The miltias told the other neighbors that this was the first killing and that "all Sunni people in this street would be next." Her husband, who was in their home during these attacks, fled with their four children, going first to his parent's house and then to Egypt. He called Zainab in Abu Dhabi at the conference, told her what happened, and said that the armed militias had taken over their house. She did not return to Baghdad and instead came to CAIRO 00000934 002 OF 002 Egypt in September 2006 and joined her family. ¶4. (SBU) In that same month, she said that she was told by her friends who will still living in her old neighborhood in Baghdad that the militias were looking for her and her family because they now knew that she and her husband had been working for the United States. Her neighbors told her that these militia had threatened her, calling her a "traitor working for the Americans," saying that "if we meet her we will kill her." Her neighbors warned her not to return because now that the militias occupied her house, they had evidence that she had been working for the United States. Her files, and photographs and paperwork, all of which had been hidden in her house, demonstrated her association with the United States. ¶5. (SBU) Justification for resettlement: Zainab is known to the US Embassy, where she worked for more than one year, and was an employee in good standing. Refcoord met with Zainab and believes that she has a genuine fear of persecution because of her work with the US government. RICCIARDONE