MOROCCO: ISLAMIST DISSIDENTS FEELING THE HEAT

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 RABAT 000462

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/20/2018
TAGS: KISL PGOV PINR ECON SCUL MO
SUBJECT: MOROCCO: ISLAMIST DISSIDENTS FEELING THE HEAT

REF: A. 07 RABAT 1838

B. 07 RABAT 396

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


1. (C) Summary: A senior leader of Morocco's largest
Islamist organization, Al-Adl wal-Ihsane (AWI),recently told
us that the group was facing intensified pressure from the
GOM. AWI Political Committee Chairman Abdelwahed Motawakel
underscored the group's rejection of formal
political/electoral participation, deeming the system
irretrievably corrupt. AWI does not aspire, however, to
seize power, but rather has a gradualist, collaborative
approach, we were told. Motawakel assessed Morocco's
political system as unsustainable and destined to collapse
under its own weight. He also offered some interesting
details about the founding of the AWI and its early history.
Our conversation reinforced our view of AWI as a political
group in religious clothing, a point underscored subsequently
by AWI's support for a general strike called for May 21 by a
major labor union. End summary.


2. (C) On May 9, Polcouns and D/Polcouns called on Abdelwahed
Al-Motawakel, founding member and Chairman of the Political
Bureau of Al-Adl wal-Ihsane (AWI). (Note: the group is
commonly called the Justice and Charity Organization or JCO
in western media. Its own translation is Justice and
Spirituality, but we find a more accurate translation to be
the Justice and Good Works Organization. Because of this
confusion we plan henceforth to refer to it by its Arabic
name and acronym. End note.) Observers assess Motawakel as
the third ranking leader after Spiritual Guide Sheikh
Abdessalam Yassine and AWI spokesman Fathallah Arsalane.
This large and influential Islamist organization -- it
controls most university student governments -- is
unrecognized by the GOM, but tolerated, if tightly
constrained, as a counterweight both to more radical
Islamists and to the more moderate variety - the (Islamist)
Party of Justice and Development (PJD),which holds the
second largest bloc of seats in parliament.

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Repression and Containment
--------------


3. (C) Motawakel complained that AWI was facing unprecedented
pressure from the GOM, which has pursued a series of
seemingly arbitrary arrests and police raids on AWI meetings
since the group launched a short lived "open house" public
outreach initiative in the spring of 2006. Motawakel
expressed particular outrage at a mass arrest in April of 60
AWI members and their families in the obscure village of
Tinejidad in Central Morocco, whom, he complained, the police
"had caught red-handed having lunch," to celebrate the return
of a pilgrim from Mecca.


4. (C) Among the 60 arrested and briefly detained in
Tinejidad included numerous women and children, Motawakel
charged, thus crossing a red line even the ruthless King
Hassan II would have never allowed. The police themselves
confessed to having been ashamed and apologized for "having
to follow instructions," in carrying out the arrests, he
claimed. Also in April, Motawakel reported that he had
personally twice been blocked by police from conducting
scheduled lectures at university campuses in Al-Jadida and
Agadir.


5. (C) The GOM denies AWI the right to openly hold meetings,
publish a newspaper, or put its name on a public banner or
sign, Motawakel complained. This despite a series of past
court decisions confirming that AWI is not an illegal
organization, he asserted. "The state uses the law against
us when it suits them, and ignores the law when it does not
suit them," Motawakel charged. (Comment: AWI's legal status
is murky and open to interpretation. Their attempts to
register with the Ministry of Social Affairs as an NGO have
been repeatedly rebuffed and they are thus unrecognized.
However, they have received court judgments in their favor,
finding them not illegal. End comment.)


6. (C) Another aspect of the state's containment strategy is
in the media, Motawakel asserted. Al-Jazeera TV, whose North
Africa bureau is seated here in Rabat, routinely ignores the
group, implying that AJ's policy is followed in deference to
the GOM. AJ solicits commentary from Moroccans from every
conceivable political and social trend, even from very tiny
and obscure groups, but studiously ignores Al-Adl wal Ihsane,
he maintained. Likewise, pro-government news outlets only

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mention the group in negative and conspiratorial tones.
(Comment: However, the PJD-associated Islamist Arabic daily
Al-Tajdid routinely covers AWI developments in neutral to
positive tones. End comment.)


7. (C) The GOM continuously tries to infiltrate AWI with
informers, Motawakel claimed. Many of these informers become
racked with guilt and reveal themselves, he asserted,
allowing that others no doubt continue to observe and inform
on the group. With arrests and aggressive attempts to
contain AWI, "the GOM wants to frighten us, but we are not
frightened," Motawakel stated, "just the opposite." He
claimed that the ranks of AWI continue to grow, despite the
GOM's best attempts at containment. "I remember when I
personally knew every AWI member in (his hometown of)
Al-Safi. Now there are so many, I only know a small fraction
of them." He would not, however, venture even a suggestion
of how many members they have.

--------------
The Moroccan State is "Illegitimate"
--------------


9. (C) Reprising a familiar AWI theme, Motawakel underscored
the group's view that the GOM lacks legitimacy. The low
turnout (37 percent) in the September elections is the
clearest indication of the state's illegitimacy, he asserted.
Motawakel challenged the notion that the problem was public
apathy - it is rather public recognition that the parliament
and public organs of the state are merely a facade, he
insisted, the real power lies with the "makhzen" - the Palace
and its circle of political and business elites.


10. (C) The "makhzen" is driven by self-interest and
materialism, caring little for the welfare of the masses, he
contended, and cannot be voted out of power. The public sees
this clearly, and is repulsed by the reality, Motawakel
asserted. For AWI to support the (Islamist) Justice and
Development Party (PJD) in the fall 2007 elections would have
been a betrayal of the group's principles, Motawakel
underscored. "How many groups have tried to change the
system from within, only to be themselves changed by the
system?" he asked.

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Gradualism not Hegemonism
--------------


11. (C) Ultimately, Motwakel asserted, the current political
system is destined to collapse under its own weight.
Staggering unemployment, rampant public corruption, decrepit
educational and health care systems are unsustainable, and
there are no serious attempts to reform them, he maintained.
Motawakel insisted that AWI did not seek to topple the regime
and seize power. The group rather pursued a gradualist,
collaborative approach, he maintained. "We want to
participate and be involved," not to take over, he insisted.


12. (C) For example, although AWI members now composed a
plurality of the membership of the Moroccan Engineers
Syndicate, they recently chose to occupy only three of the
dozen seats on the syndicate board, leaving the outnumbered
leftists in board leadership positions. This was the first
time they have taken any seats at all. Asked about the
dominance of AWI members in university student governments,
Motawakel mused that the results of these elections, largely
free from tampering, mirrored the standing of AWI in Moroccan
society and the student leaders' reputations for piety and
integrity - characteristics in short supply in the GOM
leadership, he mused.

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Historical Notes
--------------


13. (C) Interspersed with his comments, Motawakel offered
some interesting details about the AWI's past. The group was
founded in September 1981 when he, spokesman Fathallah
Arsalane, and several other founding members joined with the
charismatic Sheikh Abdessalam Yassine to organize a group
that could bring about change. "I found that I shared with
Yassine many of the same ideas," about an Islam-based
national renaissance, Motawakel recalled. (Comment: Yassine
had already established himself as a prominent Islamist
dissident. In 1974 Yassine was jailed after publishing an
open letter to King Hassan II criticizing his
authoritarianism and questioning his claim to the religious
title "Commander of the Faithful." End comment.)


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14. (C) Bio note: Abdelwahed Motawakel received a BA in
English from Mohammed V University in Rabat and an MA in
political science from Warwick University in the UK. He
taught English at High Schools in Rabat and in his hometown
of Safi. In 1989 he was jailed for two years, convicted of
membership in an illegal organization. He was also banned
from work in public schools and from international travel for
20 years. However, in 1998 he benefited from an amnesty for
political opponents and was allowed to return to his teaching
job, although he accepted soon after a "buy out" for early
retirement. The travel ban was also lifted in 1998 and he
has been abroad several times since, including a trip to the
U.S. in the summer of 2007. Despite disagreements with USG
policies in the region, he is a congenial and accessible
interlocutor.

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Comment
--------------


15. (C) Our discussion with Motawakel reinforced our view
that, despite its spiritual pretensions, AWI is a group with
a principally political and populist agenda. Serious and
transformative, if gradualist, it is an unspoken factor that
looms large in Morocco's current political background. Much
of his critique of the GOM's corruption and the makhzen's
determination to guard its prerogatives rings true, though we
believe he underestimates the King's commitment to reform.
In the often contradiction-filled world of Moroccan politics,
it appears that the government uses them, perhaps
unwittingly, as a counterweight to the Islamist PJD. The
non-declared AWI boycott of the 2007 elections may be one
reason the PJD did not do as well as many anticipated. We
have seen reports that former Interior Minister and master
manipulator Driss Basri, maintained discreet links to the
organization and met its founder.


16. (C) Shortly after our meeting, AWI spokesman Fathallah
Arsalane announced that the group would support the calls by
the Moroccan Democratic Labor Confederation (CDT) for a
general strike on May 21. Although a leftist, CDT President
Chairman Noubir Amaoui is reported to have close ties with
the organization. While AWI's support may increase adherence
to the strike, the lack of coordination among labor unions
will considerably dilute the effort. AWI's support for the
strike may be more moral than material in any case -- we note
that despite Arsalane's expression of support for the strike,
there have been no calls for adherence on the group's
website. For its part, the CDT appears to be solidly
secular, though it has no doubt welcomed the additional
publicity and support from AWI.


17. (C) AWI is likely aware that a major mobilization of the
public by Islamists, particularly at a time of very sensitive
and painful increase of food prices, is a red line the GOM
would not tolerate. It has certainly made this clear by
preventing, including by force, any demonstrations or public
meetings by AWI or PJD on the subject. End comment.




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Riley