SHIA FAMILY LAW: OFFICIAL TELLS MP TO DROP

C O N F I D E N T I A L KABUL 000971 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/07/2018 TAGS: PGOV PREL KWMN AF SUBJECT: SHIA FAMILY LAW: OFFICIAL TELLS MP TO DROP OPPOSITION REF: A. KABUL 914 ¶B. 08 KABUL 1818 ¶C. KABUL 942 Classified By: Political Counselor Alan Yu for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (C) Upper House MP Rida Azimi (Parwan, Tajik) told PolOff on April 16 that Office of Administrative Affairs Director and Karzai advisor Sadiq Mudabir threatened that he would urge Karzai to remove her from Parliament unless she dropped her opposition to the Shia Family Law. (Azimi is one of the one-third of Upper House senators appointed by the president to five-year terms). International human rights NGOs have contacted Azimi, a Sunni, seeking her help in finding an Afghan Shia spokeswoman opposed to the law (ref A). ¶2. (C) According to Azimi (protect),Mudabir, one of the leading Shias in the government supporting the controversial law, called her into his office last week after the media reported she was a critic of the law. During their meeting, Mudabir reportedly launched into a two-hour tirade against the law's opponents, calling them troublemakers and Western puppets. Mudabir, like other Shia supporters of the law, said Western NGOs and governments had pressured Afghan civil society groups to oppose the law and were improperly interfering in Afghanistan's religious affairs. ¶3. (C) Mudabir told Azimi he wanted Afghan-based opposition to the law to stop. If Afghans connected to Karzai were part of the opposition, he and other close advisors would convince Karzai to drop his support for those people. In the case of appointed MPs, Mudabir would urge Karzai to force them to resign (the Constitution does not permit the president to require the resignation of an appointed MP) or not re-appoint those MPs when their terms expire next year. ¶4. (C) It's probable that Mudabir is acting without the knowledge of Karzai, who has sought to distance himself from the government's review of the law. Mudbair is an increasingly influential player in Hazara politics (ref B) and blamed by many for "sneaking" the law onto Karzai's desk for his signature last month. Caught off guard by international opposition to the law, Mudabir, influential Shia cleric Ayatollah Asef Mohseni, and conservative Shia MPs have launched a counter-offensive to rally support for the law, framing the issue as Western intervention versus Afghanistan's autonomy over its religious affairs. April 15 Protest Update -------------- ¶5. (SBU) Supporters and opponents of the law traded accusations last week over acts of violence at the April 15 demonstration and counter-demonstration in front of Mohseni's mosque (ref C). International media condemned supporters of the law, who threw rocks at the much-smaller group of women protesting the law. Afghan media covered the demonstrations, but were more subdued in their commentary on the violence. Organizers of the counter-demonstration downplayed incidents of rock throwing. MP Fawzia Koofi (Badakhshan, Tajik),one of the organizers of the protest, told PolOff she has been overwhelmed by calls and visits from Afghans applauding the bravery of the women who took to the street to oppose the law. During her Thursday open office hours for constituent meetings, Koofi received more than 200 visitors who praised her opposition to the law. She normally receives 20-30 visitors. RICCIARDONE