LEADER OF SABEAN-MANDEANS SAYS COMMUNITY UNDER

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BAGHDAD 002911 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/20/2019 TAGS: KIRF KJUS PHUM SOCI IZ SUBJECT: LEADER OF SABEAN-MANDEANS SAYS COMMUNITY UNDER RENEWED THREAT REF: A. BAGHDAD 2813 ¶B. BAGHDAD 2528 Classified By: Political Counselor Yuri Kim for Reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) . ¶1. (C) SUMMARY: The leader of Iraq's Sabean-Mandean community, Sheikh Sittar Hillo, tells us that the Mandeans have received new death threats from extremist elements over the past ten days and that 10 Mandeans have been murdered over the past year. Hillo complained that the GOI has been negligent in addressing the Mandeans' plight, but conceding that the community has received some benefits recently in terms of quota seats and other government employment. Hillo plans to meet with Grand Ayatollah SISTANI within the next 10 days and to press him for a statement supporting the Mandean community in Iraq. END SUMMARY. -------------- Violence and Discrimination Against Mandeans -------------- ¶2. (C) On October 19, Poloff met with the leader of Iraq's Sabean-Mandean community, Sheikh Sittar Hillo who stated that his community continues to suffer from criminal and sectarian violence. Hillo detailed five incidents that have taken place over the past 13 months -- four in Baghdad and one in Basra -- that have left 10 Mandeans dead, including his uncle. Hillo believed these attacks had sectarian motives and shared copies of death threats that he said 20 Mandean goldsmiths had received within the last 10 days. The letters, from groups calling themselves the Regiments of the Army of Omar and the State of the Wise Islamic Caliph, demand that the Mandeans convert to Islam, leave Iraq, or be killed. (Note: No Mandeans were among the seven killed in a robbery of goldsmiths in Baghdad on October 14. A recent report issued by the Ministry of Human Rights noted that from 2003 to 2007, 127 Mandeans had been killed in Iraq. End note.) ¶3. (C) Hillo described the societal pressures that the Mandeans face from the majority Muslim community, especially in the Iraqi school system. According to Hillo, Mandean girls are forced to wear the veil beginning in the first grade and Mandean children are forced to study the Koran as part of the school curriculum. He also said that a number of school teachers and administrators discriminated against Mandean children and had physically abused them. (Note: Iraq's Christian community has also complained about sectarian tendencies within the Ministry of Education, most recently in reference to hiring practices (ref A). End note.) -------------- Meeting SISTANI -------------- ¶4. (C) Asked if he had raised the plight of the Mandeans with Islamic religious figures, Hillo said that he had met with Grand Ayatollah SISTANI on three occasions and was planning to meet with him again in 10 days. Hillo planned to seek Sistani's protection in response raise the death threats, which he (Hillo) attributed to Islamic extremists seeking to attack the Mandeans because they were not "people of the book" (although he did admit Christians were attacked too). Hillo believed that SISTANI could help protect the community by issuing a public statement. -------------- GOI Indifference? -------------- ¶5. (C) Hillo characterized the Mandeans' relationship with the GOI as one in which the government is not actively harming them, but rather negligent in addressing the community's concerns. Hillo complained that he had had no success in obtaining a meeting with either PM Maliki or President Talabani, although Poloff noted that Mandean leaders have met with Vice President Tariq al-Hashimi, Parliament Speaker Ayad Samarra'i, and Deputy Speaker Khaled QParliament Speaker Ayad Samarra'i, and Deputy Speaker Khaled Attiah over the past few months to press their case for a quota seat in the national elections in January. Hillo also criticized President Talabani for terminating a small fund of $15,000 three years ago that had given to the community and helped to maintain the salaries of their religious figures. Asked whether the non-Muslim Endowment would be able to provide support, Hillo said that the Endowment Director, Abdullah al-Naufali, had told him that he could not pay salaries for any religious leaders whether they be Mandean, Christian, or Yezidi. ¶6. (C) Hillo conceded that the Mandeans had received some benefits from the GOI, including the election of Ali al-Zahroon to the Mandean quota seat on the Baghdad BAGHDAD 00002911 002 OF 002 Provincial Council and the appointment of a prominent Mandean professor, Dr. Matheel al-Sabti, to be an Iraqi ambassador. In fact, Hillo noted that al-Zahroon and al-Sabti donated part of their government salaries to the community in order to help sustain it. He also said that these types of positions helped to boost the morale of the Mandean community and that the community was looking for more. Asked about the their efforts to secure a quota seat in the national Parliament, Hillo said the copy of the draft election law he had received from MP Bahai al-Araji (Fadhila) who works on the Parliament's Legal Committee had included a seat for Mandeans. (Note: A recent version of the draft law that we have seen does include one seat for Mandeans as well as five for Christians, one for Shabaks and one for Yezidis. End note.) Poloff also asked about the MOI's decision to hire 500 minority guards for the Facility Protection Service to which Hillo said that 30 Mandeans had been interviewed but had not been officially hired yet. -------------- Australia and Refugees -------------- ¶7. (C) BIO NOTE: Earlier this year, Hillo acquired a residency permit to live in Australia along with his family, a move that opened him to criticism from within the Mandean community (ref B). Hillo said that he was currently splitting time between Iraq and Australia in addition to traveling to other countries with significant Mandean populations, such as Denmark and the United States. He dismissed speculation that his time outside of Iraq was encouraging other Mandeans to leave, noting that even though the Chaldean Patriarch, Cardinal Emmanuel Delly, had remained in Iraq, a large part of the Christian community had left anyway. He said large numbers of Mandeans in the neighboring countries of Syria and Jordan wanted to return to Iraq, but did not feel that it was safe enough yet to do so. END BIO NOTE. HILL