AL-ADL WAL IHSANE: MAJOR MOROCCAN ISLAMIST GROUP

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 04 RABAT 001838

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/12/2017
TAGS: KISL PGOV PTER MO
SUBJECT: AL-ADL WAL IHSANE: MAJOR MOROCCAN ISLAMIST GROUP
HAS AN ANTI-TERROR MESSAGE

REF: A. RABAT 1522

B. RABAT 1050

C. RABAT 396

D. 06 RABAT 1105

Classified by Polcouns Craig Karp for reasons 1.4 (b) and
(d).


1. (C) Summary: Al-Adl wal-Ihsane, widely assessed as
Morocco's largest Islamist organization, concluded its recent
annual meeting warning of a "catastrophic" political and
economic crisis in Morocco and calling for comprehensive
reform, while flatly rejecting violence and terrorism. A
prominent academic told us that the group had arrived at a
"modus vivendi" with the government, which tolerates its
activities in the interest of checking terrorist ideology.
Downplaying the notion of an understanding with the GOM, a
senior Ihsane leader readily emphasized to us the group's
rejection of Wahabbi/Salafist theology. Our Ihsane contact
also flatly denied that the group is in the business of
social service delivery, but confirmed its strength on most
Moroccan university campuses. The Ihsane leader complained
that the USG does not pressure the GOM on "meaningful" reform
or democratization. End summary.

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An Enigmatic Islamist Force
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2. (C) Al-Adl wal Ihsane, aka the Justice and Charity
Organization, or the Justice and Spirituality Organization
(the latter being the group's preferred translation),is
widely assessed as Morocco's largest Islamist organization.
They have quasi-legal status (tolerated but not recognized by
the government, allowed to operate relatively freely behind
closed doors, but subjected to periodic legal harassment and
prevented from holding public activities). No one is sure
how many Ihsane members there are, with numbers ranging from
five million (a figure previously attributed to an Ihsane
spokesman) to 100,000 (a figure cited in the past by the
GOM).


3. (C) Al-Adl wal Ihsane has an Islamist socio-political
agenda, rejecting secularism and advocating a return to "core
religious values." The group eschews electoral politics,
maintaining that the existing political system is too corrupt
to be reformed from within. Some observers attribute the low
participation rate (37 percent of registered voters) in the
September elections, in part to Ihsane's position against
voting (though the group did not organize a formal boycott
effort).


4. (C) The charismatic 83 year old Sufi Imam, Sheikh
Abdel-Salam Yassine, has led the group since it was founded
in the early 1970s. Yassine is the author of dozens of books
and tracts, mainly dealing in depth with theological and
spiritual questions, offering only vague and indirect
political prescriptions. (More specific political
pronouncements have been left to the Ihsane's Guidance
Council and its Political Bureau.) Ihsane has been a
consistently shrill critic of the GOM, calling for
comprehensive constitutional reform and, most
controversially, refusing to acknowledge the King's claim to
the religious title of Amir al-Moumineen (Commander of the
Faithful).

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"Together for the Sake of Salvation"
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5. (C) Abdelouahed Al-Mutawakel (strictly protect),Chairman
of Ihsane's Political Bureau and one of the seven members of
the group's senior decision making body, the Guidance
Council, briefed D/Polcouns December 11 on the group's annual
National Council meeting, held December 8-9 in Sale, Rabat's
adjacent, twin city. Chaired by Sheikh Yassine, Ihsane's
National Council (al-Majlis al-Qatari),composed of 70
members from across Morocco, deliberated for two days at the
modest villa in Sale that serves as the group's defacto
national headquarters. Mutawakel declined to explain how the
70 National Council members are selected, but they are
presumably leaders of regional subunits (naqaba) as well as
heads of the group's various functional committees.
Mutawakel, who has frequently complained of GOM harassment of
the group and its members, said that the meeting attendees,
and the Ihsane villa in Sale, were under overt GOM

RABAT 00001838 002 OF 004


surveillance during the event, though the government allowed
it to proceed without interference.


6. (C) The National Council meeting concluded on December 9
with a communique entitled "Together for the Sake of
Salvation." Mutawakel, who passed us an advance copy of the
statement published in booklet form, summarized for us what
he saw as its three key points: First, that Morocco is
suffering from a profound political and economic crisis, with
moribund, unrepresentative institutions rejected and
distrusted by the public; Second, that comprehensive
constitutional and political reform offers the only solution;
and Third, that such reform should be led through a inclusive
consensus process involving citizen stakeholders from all
walks of life and points of view.


7. (C) From our own read of the Arabic text, we also note the
statement's criticism of other Moroccan political entities
(implicitly including the legal Islamist Justice and
Development Party - the PJD) for failing to show solidarity
with Ihsane in the face of GOM repression. The communique
also issued a flat condemnation of all forms of violence and
terrorism (Ihsane, with a Sufi orientation, has been
consistently critical of violent Wahabbi/Salafi Jihadism).
The communique also concludes with an expression of
solidarity with Palestinians and a call for Palestinian
national unity, as well as a call for immediate and
unconditional withdrawal of "Anglo-American forces" from
Iraq.

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A Suppressed Opposition...
--------------


8. (C) In our discussions with Ihsane, as well as in their
public statements, the group has consistently and
vociferously complained of GOM repression and harassment. A
document Ihsane passed us recently states that since the GOM
launched a crackdown in spring 2006, 4,513 members have been
summoned for police questioning, with 167 legal cases filed
against 821 members, with various fines levied against
against Ihsane members totaling approximately USD 700,000.


9. (C) In September, Mutawakel asserted to us that an
engineer in Fes, an Ihsane member, had been wrongly convicted
of manslaughter in a fabricated case, and in our December
meeting, he cited as an example of ongoing harassment, an
Ihsane shopkeeper in Fnediq (northern Morocco),recently
prosecuted for failing to pay social security tax for a
part-time worker in his store. Hearings in the most
conspicuous legal case against the group, the prosecution of
Sheikh Yassine's daughter Nadia, charged with defaming the
monarchy in her writings, has been repeatedly postponed since

2005. The next hearing is scheduled for March 2008.

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...Or a Defacto Partner?
--------------


10. (C) Mohammed Darif (protect),one of Morocco's most
prominent and oft-quoted Islamic affairs analysts, argued to
us during a December 6 meeting that the GOM and Ihsane, far
from being implacable enemies, actually have a modus vivendi
and recognize a sort of mutual dependence. Darif challenged
the conventional wisdom that Ihsane refuses to recognize the
monarchy, prompting the GOM to treat the group as a dangerous
enemy of the state. If Ihsane truly denied the legitimacy of
the monarchy, Darif argued, Sheikh Yassine would not have
published an open letter to King Mohammed VI, as he did in
2000, making clear his view that the young King was innocent
of the "sins" of his father and advising him to rid himself
of his father's henchmen, crack down on corruption, and
soften his approach to the Sahara question. (All pieces of
advice, Darif dryly noted, the King ultimately followed.)


11. (C) Ihsane frequently resorts to the Moroccan legal
system, filing suits, counter claims, and appeals, and
appears to have full access to due process. Engaging in such
legal actions, Darif argued, constitutes tacit recognition of
the legitimacy of the state. The main point of contention,
Darif continued, concerns not Ihsane's acceptance of the
monarchy in principle, but its refusal to recognize the
King's claim to the religious title of Amir al-Mumineen
(Commander of the Faithful),a position which augments the
monarch's political legitimacy with status as the Kingdom's
leading Muslim. Even on this point, Darif asserted, Ihsane

RABAT 00001838 003 OF 004


has been silent for several years.


12. (C) For its part, Darif maintained, the GOM sees the Sufi
and consistently non-violent Ihsane as an important bulwark
in Moroccan society against violent Salafist/Wahabbi thought.
In contrast to the Ihsane, Salafist Jihadism, which has been
seeping into Morocco from the Middle East since the 1970s,
has shown itself through the devastating 2003 bombings in
Casablanca and during a series of frightening but abortive
attacks in spring 2007, as a threat to the Kingdom's physical
and economic security. Such incidents, even if abortive, are
unacceptable in a country pinning its hopes on attracting
foreign investment and tourists with its reputation for
moderation and stability.


13. (C) The GOM's strategy, according to Darif, is to allow
Ihsane to function, contained within narrow parameters,
serving as a safe outlet for conservative religious
tendencies in society while deflecting more dangerous Wahabbi
currents. Ihsane Guidance Bureau member Mutawakel rejected
this theory during our December 11 meeting with him,
contending "Our position on the question of the Amir
al-Mumineen is clear and unchanged... we do not have to
restate it every few months." Mutawakel did acknowledge,
however, that the GOM may see Ihsane as an important shield
against the penetration of Salafist/Wahabbi thought in
Morocco. We note the group emerged at the height of
repression under King Hassan II and has been allowed by the
state to operate, and grow since that time, while
periodically taking action to restrict its public activities
and political outreach.

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No Social Services (?)
--------------


14. (C) Many observers, including Ihsane's many critics and
opponents, cite the group's presumed delivery of social
services to Morocco's poor as a principle reason for the
group's presumed strength and popularity. Among the Ihsane
social services cited by Darif are subsidies for the poor to
buy livestock (usually a sheep) to sacrifice for Eid al-Adha,
financial assistance for those seeking to perform the Hajj
(pilgimage to Mecca),and even for the poor to throw a
wedding party. Asked about social services, Ihsane leader
Mutawakel did allow that the group may "facilitate" the
delivery of some assistance to ensure that it reaches people
who need it, but he flatly denied the group has a tangible
social services network. "The government prevents us from
doing anything like this," he stated. In contrast to
Islamist groups in the Levant (e.g. Hamas and Hizbollah),
Ihsane maintains no clinics, no vocational training centers,
and no daycare facilities, Mutawakel maintained.

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Big Men (and Women) on Campus
--------------


15. (C) Mutawakel acknowledged the truth of the common view
that Ihsane maintains a weighty presence on university
campuses across Morocco. The GOM does not like this, he
observed, but has found the youthful enthusiasm and energy of
its Ihsane students irrepressible. To counter this factor,
Mutawakel charged, the GOM incites leftist student groups to
"harass and violently assault our students," he claimed. In
some cases, the GOM or its agents pay student "thugs" to roam
among different campuses to make trouble and keep Ihsane
students in check, he charged.


16. (C) Mutawakel recounted that leftist students had
attempted to disrupt a speaking engagement he had recently at
Meknes University, but the group had been outnumbered and
pushed aside by the large and supportive Ihsane student
crowd, he claimed. (Comment: We have heard conversely (and
credibly) from leftist contacts that it is the Ihsane
students who end to dominate and bully others on campus, also
appointing themselves guardians of public morals, chastising
their classmates for "improper" dress, alcohol consumption,
etc. End comment.)

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The USG Should Practice What it Preaches
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17. (C) In our December 11 meeting, Ihsane leader Mutawakel
complained that the USG claims to advocate democracy,

RABAT 00001838 004 OF 004


transparent governance, and protection of human rights, but
fails to put this rhetoric into practice in the Middle East
and North Africa. USG praise for Jordan's recent elections
was laughable, he contended, continuing "bias" against the
Palestinians was irrefutable, and military intervention in
Iraq was tragically misguided. As for Morocco, Mutawakel
charged that most citizens believe the USG is supporting a
corrupt and unjust regime which denies basic needs to the
vast majority to the benefit of a tiny and obscenely wealthy
elite.


18. (C) D/Polcouns countered that the USG has an unimpaired
view of systemic weaknesses and areas for improvement in
Morocco, and offers a comprehensive public accounting of
these in the annual human rights report. We regularly engage
with the GOM on human rights cases and to promote democracy.
The USG also has a robust assistance program targeting the
education system and the employment gap, areas the Ihsane has
identified as core problems. The USG is also committed to
helping Moroccans combat public corruption and shore up the
independence and transparency of the judiciary, he noted.

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Comment
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19. (C) We assess Al-Adl wal Ihsane will remain an important
current in Morocco for the forseeable future. Though a cult
of personality around the charismatic Sheikh Yassine is one
of the most obvious features of the group, the death of the
octogenerian cleric, when it comes, is unlikely to derail the
organization, which appears to have durable internal
structures and a committed membership. The key question is
if and when the group will modify its refusal to engage
openly in the existing political arena. Such a change would
have to be linked to a modification of Ihsane's stance toward
the monarchy, potentially in exchange for a loosening of GOM
restrictions on its public activities. For the moment,
however, it seems that neither side is prepared to
compromise, and indeed the GOM appears satisfied with the
status quo. End comment.




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