DIWANIYAH PC REQUESTS REMOVAL OF AL-HURA JOURNALIST

S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 02 BAGHDAD 001522

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/15/2018
TAGS: PGOV IR
SUBJECT: DIWANIYAH PC REQUESTS REMOVAL OF AL-HURA JOURNALIST

Classified By: Team Leader Robert Pitre for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).


1. (U) This is a PRT Diwaniyah reporting cable.


2. (S/NF) Summary: On May 06, 2008, the Diwaniyah
Provincial Council (PC) voted unanimously to request the
removal of TV journalist Al-Shabani from Al Hura television
on the basis of "inaccurate" reporting. Al-Hura, a U.S.
government-sponsored television station, has rejected this
request and issued statements of support. Al-Shabani
mentioned his reporting during the height of the Coalition's
operation Lion's Pounce as well as his assessment of the
current security situation in Diwaniyah Province. End
Summary.


2. (S/NF) Provincial Reconstruction Team Leader (TL) met
with Matham Al-Shabani (protect) on 12 May to get details on
the PC's recent request to dismiss Al-Shabani from the U.S.
Government-sponsored TV station, Al-Hura. As a way of
establishing his credentials, Al-Shabani related that his
first interaction with the coalition came during Operation
Lion's Pounce from December 2007 to April 2008. Despite
warnings from his colleagues against reporting on Coalition
activities and discoveries, Al-Shabani chose to continue his
journalism.


4. (S/NF) Al-Shabani claims that he was able to infiltrate
Jaysh al-Mahdi (JAM) and expose its actions. He personally
saw the torture and execution sites that JAM used and the
weapons caches that the coalition uncovered, which bore
markings indicating they had been manufactured in Iran.
Al-Shabani claims that the common smuggling route was across
the frontier at al-Amarah in Maysan and then straight in to
Diwaniyah. This was when his troubles began with the
provincial government. He says the provincial government
questioned why he didn't emphasize the fact that provincial
security forces had worked alongside the coalition in these
operations against the insurgents. Al-Shabani responded that
he only reported on what he saw and that he had not witnessed
the presence of provincial security forces.


5. (S/NF) Soon after, Al-Shabani received a death threat via
SMS on his cell phone. A rough translation follows:
"Hypocrite! Listen! We swear to the divine lord that your
death is easier for us than taking a drink of water! When
you fall in with the infidels and don't tell the truth, we
see it. If you're not worried about yourself, you should
worry about your family. No one will protect you! You think
Al-Budayri (City of Diwaniyah Police Chief) will protect you?
The head of the emergency forces won't protect you. Leave
your job, leave Diwaniyah for one month starting tomorrow or
we swear as Mohammed swore, there won't even be a body left
for your family to bury." End rough translation. When
Al-Shabani reported it to the police, they claimed that the
call came from a stolen cell phone.


6. (S/NF) The next report that angered the provincial
government was a report on the lack of clean drinking water
in some villages. In this instance, Al-Shabani stated that
the intent was to make the provincial government accountable
for the lack of essential services. Al-Shabani tried to pass
the message that the government needs to take care of the
needs of the people before its lack of action creates a new
generation of terrorists.


7. (S/NF) The final controversial by Al-Shabani concerned
the lack of coordination, poor quality controls, and lack of
proper safety protocols associated with government
construction/reconstruction projects. These failures result
in higher costs and opportunities to solicit bribes, thus
wasting precious government funds, Al-Shabani reported.
After this report aired, he was contacted by the PC spokesman
and told that there were mistakes in his report. Thereafter,
the PC decided to take up the issue during its meeting.


8. (S/NF) Al-Shabani believes that the ISCI-dominated
provincial government simply doesn't want any negative
reporting prior to the provincial elections. Ironically, the
PC itself has already removed two of its elected members
based on charges of corruption (incidentally, these were the
only male representatives from the Sadrist party on the PC).


9. (S/NF) In reaction to the PC motion, Al-Hura TV has
unequivocally stated that it supports the journalist as a
professional who is doing a good job and accused the PC of
voting to bar al-Shabani solely for political reasons. The
TV station has also featured members of parliament who
believe more needs to be done to protect journalists.
Al-Shabani says everyone knows that journalists are not safe
in Iraq; you need only look at the number who have been
killed.


10. (S/NF) According to al-Shabani, the Badr militia is

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still "active" in Diwaniyah and headed by Governor Khudari.
However, al-Shabani believes that JAM is "finished" in
Diwaniyah ) members have either been killed, captured or
pushed out of the province. He says he is currently
investigating a possible new militia group with ties to
Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps' Quds Force. So far, he
has not been able to find concrete evidence of the ties, but
still believes there is a new militia forming.


11. (S/NF) Comment: Under the new constitution, the PC has
no legal mechanism to censure reporting on Al-Hura. We tend
to agree with al-Shabani's assessment that the ISCI-dominated
provincial government is reluctant to allow any negative
reporting in the months leading up to the provincial
elections and considers any negative reporting as an attempt
to embarrass it and draw attention to its ineffectiveness.
That said, the PC and Governor can legitimately claim that
they are making an effort to improve the lives of the
citizens of Diwaniyah, and it is unrealistic to think that
every village in the province would have potable water, as
even the provincial capital lacks an adequate water supply.
Interestingly, the Governor regularly comments on corruption
in Iraq and in Diwaniyah, but always levels his accusations
against people outside of government. In the end, Al-Shabani
is a convenient way for the provincial government to attack
one of the few legitimately independent TV stations here in
Iraq. End Comment.
CROCKER