RESPONDING TO GOQ ON TRAVEL OF QATARI FORMER

C O N F I D E N T I A L DOHA 000148 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/26/2019 TAGS: PTER PGOV PREL QA SUBJECT: RESPONDING TO GOQ ON TRAVEL OF QATARI FORMER GUANTANAMO DETAINEE JARALLAH AL-MARRI REF: DOHA 121 Classified By: Ambassador Joseph LeBaron, reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). KEY POINTS: -- Press reports indicate that the GOQ permitted former Guantanamo detainee Jarallah al-Marri to travel outside of Qatar despite explicit assurances that he would not be permitted to do so, and that the USG would be notified if he attempted to. -- The Qatari AG had been trying to arrange a meeting in Washington this spring with U.S. Attorney General Holder. Because the Qatari AG was almost certainly party to the decision to permit al-Marri's travel ) and failed to inform us despute numerous opportunities to do so - Embassy Doha strongly recommends that U.S. Attorney General Holder not agree to meet with his Qatari counterpart. -- Embassy Doha also recommends that a strong message on this be delivered to the Qatari Ambassador in Washington. Ambassador is seeking urgent meetings with Qatari MFA MinState Al-Mahmoud, AG al-Marri, and the Director of Qatar State Security to deliver a similiar protest. END KEY POINTS ¶1. (U) Press reports indicate that former Guantanamo Bay detainee and Qatari citizen Jarallah al-Marri was arrested this month in the UK. An on-line search of Guantanamo-related blogs indicate that this was apparently al-Marri's second recent visit to the UK, the last taking place in January. ¶2. (C) As reported in reftel, the International Relations Coordinator for the Qatari Attorney General told Legat as recently as February 12 that Jarallah al-Marri was still subject to a travel ban and could not leave Qatar. Al-Marri was returned to Qatar from Guantanamo Bay in July 2008, with the explicit understanding (made via exchange of diplomatic notes) that he would be subject to a travel ban, and that the GOQ would notify the USG if al-Marri sought to travel. Reftel gave post's assessment, now clearly wrong, that the GOQ would honor these assurances. ¶3. (C) Prior to this issue emerging, Qatari Attorney General Ali bin Fetais al-Marri has requested post's assistance in arranging a meeting with U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder in Washington in the April/May timeframe. The Qatari's objective was to build a relationship with the new U.S. AG. Post understands that the Qatari Embassy in Washington may also request State Department assistance in arranging that meeting. ¶4. (C) Embassy Doha strongly recommends against such a meeting at this time due to the clear likelihood that the GOQ deliberately withheld information on Jarallah al-Marri's travel outside of Qatar. Although the Qatari AG may not have been the decisive voice within the GOQ on this issue, he is almost certainly one of a group of Qatari officials who would be party to such a decision. LeBaron