NIGERIA: SHIA LEADER IMPLICATES U.S. IN SUNNI

S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 02 ABUJA 000321

SIPDIS

NOFORN
SIPDIS

STATE FOR INR/AA

E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/18/2033
TAGS: PGOV PINR KISL NI
SUBJECT: NIGERIA: SHIA LEADER IMPLICATES U.S. IN SUNNI
IMAM'S KILLING

REF: A. 07 ABUJA 2205

B. 07 ABUJA 1630

C. TD-314/77020-07

D. TD-314/011187-08

Classified By: Political Counselor Walter Pflaumer for Reasons 1.4 (b,
c & d).


1. (S//NF) SUMMARY: Sokoto state Attorney General Inuwa
Abdul-Qadir (strictly protect) informed that the secret trial
of prominent Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN) leader Kasimu
Tawaye and over a hundred other members of Sokoto,s minority
Shia community remains stalled several months after the
accused were arraigned for the July murder of outspoken Sunni
imam Umaru Dan-Maishiya. Neither the police nor the State
Security Services (SSS) has submitted the majority of their
evidence to court, and only one individual has been charged
with Dan-Maishiya,s murder. Amidst the detention of Tawaye,
et al., IMN leaders, including founder Ibrahim al-Zakzaky,
have proffered through readily accessible audio cassette that
the United States orchestrated Dan-Maishiya's murder to
foment Sunni-Shia discord in Nigeria. Under threat from the
Nigerian government, and owing to widespread disaffection
towards IMN's ideology by broad segments of the North's lay
and clerical populations, IMN is making concerted efforts to
recast itself as constituent element of the Nigerian Islamic
community. END SUMMARY.


2. (S//NF) Inuwa Abdul-Qadir (strictly protect),Sokoto state
Attorney General (AG),spoke to PolOff February 13 regarding
the status of the detention of Islamic Movement in Nigeria
(IMN) leader Kasimu Tawaye and 112 other members of Sokoto's
minority Shia community (Ref A). While Tawaye and the others
arrested in connection with the July 18 killing of outspoken
Sunni scholar Umaru Hamza Dan-Maishiya remain in prison (Ref
B, also for background on Shi'ism in Nigeria),only one
individual has been charged in Dan-Maishiya,s murder. All
of the accused have pled not guilty to murder charges, and
most have pled no contest to charges of illegal assembly at
Dan-Maishiya,s mosque (on the day of his assassination).
Abdul-Qadir said the State Security Services (SSS) and
Nigerian police have yet to remit the majority of their
evidence, which they assure directly links the accused
(especially Tawaye) to Dan-Manshiya,s homicide. The
Attorney General admitted to PolOff that while the scant
evidence in the court,s possession may be circumstantial, it
is sufficient to indict Tawaye and the others and "send a
message" to the rest of the Shia community in Sokoto (and
beyond) that their presence is a "nuisance" and will not be
tolerated. (PolOff broached the issue of Sokoto's Shia
community with Sokoto-based academics and technocrats January
26 and received indication that antipathy for Shia doctrine
far overshadowed any concern these individuals may harbor for
the maltreatment of the Shia community by the government.)


3. (S//NF) Subsequent detainee interrogations, AG Abdul-Qadir
disclosed, revealed plots by the Shia community in Sokoto and
Nigeria writ large to "attack" systematically similarly
outspoken Sunni scholars in Kebbi, Bauchi, and Kano states.
Also, Abdul-Qadir confirmed the Sokoto state government
completed its scheduled demolition of the presumed
headquarters (known as the markaz) of the Sokoto Shia
community. Abdul-Qadir asserted the markaz compound's
proximity to a densely-populated Sunni area of Sokoto city
characterized it as a threat to public safety. Therefore,
under the authority of the Land Use Act, several homes
belonging to declared IMN members were also razed.


4. (S//NF) Following the detention of Tawaye and his
associates, AG Abdul-Qadir said on October 20, five Shia men
shot and mortally wounded a Sunni resident (Aliyu Mallam)
near the group's alleged markaz. Abdul-Qadir confirmed that
of the five, two had been apprehended, one killed, and two
others had fled the city toward Zamfara state. Customs
officials on the Sokoto-Zamfara road apprehended one of them
and his vehicle; however, the shooter (and alleged
mastermind) in the attack remains at large. Abdul-Qadir said
the Nigerian police recovered a national identity card in the
vehicle, which officials believe belongs to the brother of
the alleged shooter. Subsequently, the police arrested and
charged the shooter,s brother as an accessory to murder.

ABUJA 00000321 002 OF 002


(See Ref C for additional information.)


5. (S//NF) Abdul-Qadir noted the SSS arrested an undisclosed
number of individuals in Sokoto who attempted to demonstrate
January 19 in commemoration of Ashura (the Shia holiday which
honors the martyrdom of Imam Ali,s family). Abdul-Qadir
informed PolOff that the Sokoto marketplace is full of Hausa
audio cassettes, in which IMN founder Ibrahim al-Zakzaky
directly implicates the United States in the attack against
Dan-Maishiya, extols the virtues of Shi'ism and the Iranian
government, and decries the United States for exacerbating
tensions between the Sunni and Shia communities in Nigeria.
In addition, several prominent imams from within the Sunni
community in the North have told PolOff of their concern over
the growth of Shi'ism in Nigeria. (See Ref D for additional
information.)


6. (S//NF) COMMENT: As Post predicted (Ref A),the
authorities are using the killing of Dan-Maishiya as a
pretext for a likely counterproductive crackdown on the Shia
presence in Sokoto. This crackdown precipitated a violent
Shia response (see para. 4 above),and may be a precursor for
future retribution. Clandestine reporting suggests that
IMN-affiliated members may be growing in number and force,
and that IMN training camps exist in the North. However,
Post has not discerned a burgeoning, much less significant
threat of Shia-inspired militancy. Post avers that the IMN
is not a cohesive entity, but rather a fractious cadre of,
ostensibly, fewer than a thousand individuals.


7. (S//NF) COMMENT CONT,D: Al-Zakzaky,s diatribe against
the United States is unsurprising, yet sobering. It
illustrates an almost obdurate contention, which has
widespread currency in the North, that the United States
remains hostile to Muslim communities around the world, and
that it is somehow behind these acts against Muslims here.
Al-Zakzaky's invective against the United States may be
seized upon by individuals already critical of the U.S., but
Post believes most northerners will discredit the statements
as little more than posturing. At the same time, IMN members
continue their efforts to recast the Shia community as an
intrinsic element of the Nigerian Islamic community in order
to curry sympathy, deflect criticism, and unite Sunni and
Shia against what the latter see as a common foe, the U.S.
END COMMENT.
SANDERS