REFERRAL OF INTERPRETER ANSAM SHIHAB AHMED

UNCLAS E F T O BAGHDAD 001098 SIPDIS SIPDIS STATE FOR PRM/A; DHS FOR BCIS HEADQUARTERS; CAIRO FOR REFCOORD; AMMAN FOR REFCOORD AND CONSULAR E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/29/2017 TAGS: PREF PHUM IZ SUBJECT: REFERRAL OF INTERPRETER ANSAM SHIHAB AHMED REF: STATE 326248 SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED. FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY. ¶1. Embassy Baghdad would like to refer Ansam Shihab Ahmed to the US Refugee Admissions Program. ¶2. (SBU) Biographical information: NAME: Ansam Shihab Ahmed DOB: 27 November 1972 POB: Iraq Passport Number: S 285869 Gender: Female Marital Status: Single (divorce) Dependents: N/A ¶3. (SBU) Description of persecution claim, as presented by the embedded Public Diplomacy Officer (PDO) for the Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) in Al Anbar, who has known Ansam since October 2006. Ansam works with the 4th Civil Affairs Group (CAG) and Multinational Forces and the Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) as an Iraqi interpreter/translator. Her direct employer is Titan, an American contractor serving the military. Ansam has worked as a translator and simultaneous interpreter for the Multinational Forces (MNF) since February of 2004. Her assignments have included Psychological Operations (PSYOPS), Information Operations (IO),and the 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th CAG. She is presently assigned to the II Marine Expeditionary Force (MEF) based at Camp Fallujah, and works also on special operations and the PRT. Her father was poisoned in a training camp under Saddam Hussein,s regime. Her mother and four sisters were kidnapped and assassinated by Shi,te militia in 2003. She has no remaining immediate family. Once Ansam began working for MNF she began receiving death threats from Shi,te militia, Sunni insurgents and Al Qaida terrorists who accused her of being a traitor, spy and "whore" for the occupation forces. 4) (SBU) Ansam lives inside the Camp Fallujah base, which is located in the most dangerous war zone in Iraq. Her picture has been found posted in mosques throughout Al Anbar and Baghdad with a fatwa (Islamic ruling) calling for her death for being an apostate and an infidel. Her family and tribal leaders called for her death following her divorce, her conversion from Islam to Christianity, and her residence with Marines at Camp Fallujah. The family and tribe demanded her life to restore honor to the clan. The last time Ansam was in Baghdad, her best friend was kidnapped by armed, masked gunmen in a taxi and later found with a bullet through her head and a note attached to her body warning "this is what happens to traitors who help spies, Jews and the traitors." Ansam was warned that Mahdi death squads were combing neighborhoods in Baghdad searching for her. By the time she escaped and returned to Fallujah, she received a telephone call from a Sunni group called the "Angry Lions" calling for her death for being a traitor to her tribe (the Dulaymi). For over two years, Ansam has not been able to leave the base without a protective force because of her work and death threats against her. ¶5. (SBU) Justification for resettlement: Ansam Ahmed has endured extreme hardship. In recent times she has undergone depression and anxiety attacks as the 4th CAG prepares to redeploy back to the United States, realizing that she would be left behind on her own. She has learned from reliable sources that her name and information on her passport and identification applications have been passed on to the insurgents. ¶6. (SBU) Financial situation of PA: Ansam has some savings and should not need financial assistance immediately. ¶7. (SBU) Name check: Completed. No matching hits. ¶8. Other: An intermediary claiming to have influence to expedite the processing of an Iraqi G series passport took Ansam's S series passport and has not returned it. Ansam may not be able to retrieve the S passport back, and did not get the G passport either. Therefore, she currently has no passport. SPECKHARD