BOSNIA: ABU HAMZA SUPPORTERS RALLY TO OPPOSE

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 SARAJEVO 000202

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

EUR FOR DICARLO, EUR/SCE (HOH, FOOKS, STINCHCOMB),S/CT;
NSC FOR BRAUN; OSD FOR BEIN

E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/04/2018
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PREL PTER BK FR
SUBJECT: BOSNIA: ABU HAMZA SUPPORTERS RALLY TO OPPOSE
DEPORTATION

REF: SARAJEVO 93

SARAJEVO 00000202 001.2 OF 002


Classified By: Michael J. Murphy. Reasons 1.4 (b),(d).

Summary
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1. (C) A rally in support of former mujahedeen Imad al
Husein AKA Abu Hamza took place in Zenica over the weekend.
The rally occurred in the wake of a State Court decision
upholding the revocation of Abu Hamza's Bosnian citizenship.
The demonstration featured an address by Abu Hamza in which
he claimed Alija Izetbegovic had supported his role during
the war. It also included extremist rhetoric from other
supporters who ridiculed statements by RS officials on the
permanence of the Republika Srpska by chanting "Muhammad is
the only permanent category in Bosnia." RS-based press
seized on the event to highlight the danger posed by the
presence of Islamic extremists in Bosnia. The rally comes on
the heels of a January 29 European Human Court for Human
Rights (ECHR) injunction against the deportation of Abu Hamza
pending a review of his denaturalization by the Bosnian
Constitutional Court. In a January 31 interview to Croatian
news weekly Globus, Abu Hamza stated he welcomed deportation,
promised to sue Bosnia for human rights violations if
deported, and criticized the "U.S. role" in his deportation.
End Summary.

Zenica Rally
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2. (U) Efforts by Syrian national and former mujahedeen Imad
al Husein AKA Abu Hamza to fight his deportation from Bosnia
continue to make the headlines in Bosnia (Reftel). The media
gave widespread coverage to a February 2 demonstration in
support of Abu Hamza at the Alija Izetbegovic Square in
Zenica. Although local press reports claimed the rally
involved three thousand participants, EUFOR estimates place
the number at six hundred. Demonstrators protested Bosnian
government attempts to deport Abu Hamza to Syria. Under the
slogan "Abu Hamza, Forgive Us," demonstration leaders accused
the government and the international community of human
rights violations in attempting to deport former mujahedeen
and of harming hundreds of Bosnian children by depriving them
of their fathers. They also accused Bosniak (Bosnian Muslim)
leaders of being silent and of doing little to prevent
deportations, and announced plans to start a petition against
the deportations. Republika Srspka (RS) based media outlets
also featured prominent coverage of the event with alarmist
reporting on the presence of Islamist forces in Bosnia and
suggested that the Serbs' conduct during the 1992-1995 war
was an attempt to defend themselves against Islamic
extremists.

ECHR Blocks Deportation
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3. (C) On January 30 the European Court for Human Rights in
Strasbourg notified the Bosnian government of its decision to
adopt an interim measure blocking any attempt by Bosnia to
deport Abu Hamza before the BiH Constitutional Court reaches
a final decision in his citizenship case. The Bosnian
government considers rulings by the European Court for Human
Rights to be binding and local law enforcement and security
agencies are proceeding with this understanding.
Nonetheless, preparations remain underway for a deportation
operation pending the ruling of the Constitutional Court.
Although Abu Hamza currently has two petitions before the
Constitutional Court, one in regarding his citizenship claim
and the other appealing the denial of his asylum application,
the ECHR injunction only references the review of his
denaturalization.


4. (C) We spoke to a lawyer monitoring Abu Hamza's case at
the European Court for Human Rights who confirmed the report.
Cedomir Radnic said that Abu Hamza had filed a petition with
the court to block his deportation on January 22 of this year
and that on January 29 the Court informed the Bosnian
government of its decision to grant Abu Hamza's request. He
speculated that even if the Constitutional Court were to
rejects his asylum case, Abu Hamza could ask the Strasbourg

SARAJEVO 00000202 002.2 OF 002


Court to impose additional injunctions blocking his
deportation on the grounds that he might face inhumane
treatment in Syria.

Globus Interview
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5. (U) The same week, in a lengthy interview published
January 31 in the Zagreb-based magazine Globus, a defiant Abu
Hamza welcomed deportation to Syria, and claimed that he
would face imprisonment and perhaps the death penalty there.
He said that, if deported, he would file a case against the
Bosnian government for subjecting him to inhumane treatment
and for depriving him of his right to family life at the
European Court for Human Rights. He expressed confidence
that the Court would rule in his favor.


6. (U) Abu Hamza claimed that former president Alija
Izetbegovic had allowed former mujahedeen to remain in Bosnia
after the 1992-1995 war, provided that they did not violate
Bosnian law, and that both parties had fulfilled their part
of the bargain. He accused Bosnia's current political
leadership of trying to renege on this bargain, but praised
Haris Silajdzic, the Bosniak member of the Presidency, who he
said understands the former mujahedeen,s problems and is
trying to do everything in his power to protect them. Abu
Hamza dismissed speculation that he could be deported to
Croatia, the country from which he entered Bosnia and added
that he "fears the role of the U.S. in my deportation.8


7. (U) The January 31 edition of magazine Slobodna Bosna
published an article critical of the government of former
president Alija Izetbegovic for not ridding the country of
the former mujahedeen as stipulated by Dayton. The writer
detailed efforts by government officials to "devise legal
twists" to distribute BiH passports to hundreds of
mujahedeen. Nonetheless, the writer notes that deportation
would constitute a hardship to Abu Hamza's family and that,
given the history of wartime naturalizations, many mujahedeen
"simply had no choice but to become deeply rooted in BiH."

Comment
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8. (C) Abu Hamza and his supporters have mounted a skillful
public relations campaign in the local press and have been
successful in highlighting his role in the war in order to
appeal to Bosniak public opinion. As highlighted in the
Slobodna Bosna article, even some Bosniak commentators who
support the goal of deporting former mujahedeen tend to cast
the Abu Hamza case in terms of human rights rather than the
national security interests that the Bosnian government and
courts have cited in revoking his citizenship. The Abu
Hamza case also has the potential to be appropriated by
Bosnian Serbs for nationalist purposes as demonstrated by the
sensationalist coverage of the Zenica rally in the RS press.
We understand that the Constitutional Court intends to move
rapidly on the review of the Abu Hamza citizenship revocation
and asylum case and preliminary indications suggest it will
uphold the State Court's decision. In the meantime, we are
working with Bosnian law enforcement agencies to ensure they
are making adequate preparations for an eventual deportation
of Abu Hamza. End Comment.
ENGLISH