ALLEGATIONS OF HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES IN MILITARY

C O N F I D E N T I A L BAGHDAD 000104 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/06/2020 TAGS: KJUS PGOV PHUM IZ SUBJECT: ALLEGATIONS OF HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES IN MILITARY UNIT LINKED TO PM REF: A. 2009 BAGHDAD 2937 ¶B. 2009 BAGHDAD 3210 ¶C. 2007 BAGHDAD 0001 Classified By: Political Minister Counselor Gary A. Grappo for Reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (C) SUMMARY: Over the past six months, the Ministry of Human Rights (MOHR),the MOD's Human Rights Directorate, and Parliament have conducted inspections, revealing serious allegations of human rights violations at a military facility (Camp Honor in the International Zone) closely linked to the Prime Minister's Office. The facility, operated by the 56th Brigade, has been involved in the detention of several prominent political figures over the past year, is alleged to be holding persons without arrest warrants as well as prisoners showing signs of abuse, and is employing persons previously fired from the MOI for their role in a 2006 detention scandal. In response to the pressure, the PM's office has lashed out by accusing the MOHR and MOD prison inspectors of misconduct in their performance of duties while at the same time agreeing to transfer control of the Camp Honor facility to the MOJ. Embassy will continue to press the GOI to address human rights abuses, demonstrate support for the MOHR, and discontinue efforts to intimidate those reporting abuses. END SUMMARY. -------------- THE BAGHDAD BRIGADE -------------- ¶2. (C) The 56th Brigade (also called the Baghdad Brigade) is a high-level interagency unit composed of personnel from the MOD (commando unit and guards),the MOI (investigators),and the Higher Judicial Council (judges) and is nominally supervised by the Minister of Defense. In reality, the 56th Brigade reports directly to the Prime Minister's Office and is ostensibly designed to go after high-value targets involved in violence. However, the unit has also been involved in detaining prominent political figures (the Deputy Governor and one Provincial Council member from Diyala are currently held there) as well as other Iraqis who have little apparent connection to terrorism or insurgent activity (ref A). ¶3. (C) On December 30, Poloff met with the Chief of the Prisons Monitoring Committee at the MOHR, Sa'ad Sultan, who said the MOHR conducted its first inspection of Camp Honor in July 2009 and encountered numerous human rights violations, including prisoners for whom there were no case files and signs of prisoners' physical abuse. Following the inspection, the MOHR generated a report documenting the abuses and sent it to the PMO. Sultan said that the MOHR then conducted a follow-up inspection of Camp Honor in September, but that when they reviewed the prison rosters, 224 prisoners who were present in July were no longer in the facility. Asked where these prisoners were currently being held, the 56th Brigade reportedly responded that they had all been transferred to the MOJ's pre-trial detention facility in Rusafa. ¶4. (C) Sultan indicated that the MOHR then conducted a surprise inspection of the MOD's Old Muthanna detention facility (operated by the 54th Brigade) in November based on intelligence MOHR had received from a source in the MOD (presumably the MOD's Human Rights Director Iman Naji who had inspected the facility in September (ref B)),and found 43 persons who had been present at Camp Honor in July and who the 56th Brigade had stated were transferred to Rusafa. Sultan said that the MOHR then sent a team of 12 inspectors to the MOJ's Rusafa prison to find the remaining detainees who had supposedly been transferred there. The MOHR inspectors confirmed that 180 of the remaining persons had Qinspectors confirmed that 180 of the remaining persons had indeed been transferred from Camp Honor, but one person on their original list of 224 transferees was neither at Rusafa nor Old Muthanna. Sultan said that the MOHR then asked the 56th Brigade where this person was located and that the Brigade responded that the individual had in fact never left Camp Honor. In response, the MOHR asked Iraq's public prosecutor to open an investigative case on the 56th Brigade's actions concerning this prisoner. On December 21, acting on the reports given to them by the MOHR, MPs Shatha al-Obosi (Human Rights Committee) and Hassan Dagen (Security and Defense Committee) -- both members of Tawafuk (IIP) -- conducted an inspection of Camp Honor. Obosi told Poloff on January 11 that she had seen credible signs of torture during the inspection. -------------- AND A CRIMINAL ENTERPRISE? -------------- ¶5. (C) Sultan also described how the MOHR inspectors had encountered three individuals -- BG Falah al-Janabi, Mohamed al-Duleimi and Ali al-Obeidi -- working for the 56th Brigade who had supposedly been fired by the MOI in 2006 for their role in ransoming 44 Sunni detainees to the Jaysh al-Mahdi (JAM). (NOTE: This practice was reported in general at the time in ref C. END NOTE.) Sultan said that after they were fired, the individuals in question went underground to avoid criminal prosecution. Sultan reported that the MOHR produced the original dismissal order for these individuals and sent it to the PMO asking that action be taken. Sultan opined that he thought Ali al-Yassery (the PM's cousin and head of the GOI's Ashraf Committee) was the man ultimately responsible for the 56th Brigade and its interface with the 54th Brigade. Sultan alleged that the activities of these brigades were nothing more than an elaborate extortion scheme in which people were arrested under dubious circumstances and then held for a number of months until their families paid for their release. -------------- --- BACKLASH FROM PM'S OFFICE, EMBASSY ENCOURAGEMENT -------------- --- ¶6. (C) During a meeting on November 26, the Minister of Human Rights Wijdan Selim told Poloff that she was afraid for her ministry's inspections teams because she could not guarantee their safety with respect to their ongoing struggle with the 56th Brigade. According to both Minister Selim and Sa'ad Sultan, the PMO sent the MOHR a letter in early December impugning the credibility of the two MOHR employees who conducted the inspection and accusing them of misconduct. Sultan stated that the MOHR responded in late December with a letter defending the credibility of its employees and attaching the inspection reports from July and September, which called into question the legality of many of the 56th Brigade's activities. On December 20, the DCM met with the Minister of Human Rights and 24 prison inspectors from the MOHR to discuss the range of human rights issues, including Camp Honor, and to demonstrate support for their efforts. Pol M/C raised concerns about Camp Honor December 29 with the head of the Parliament's Human Rights Committee, Mohamed al-Haydari (Shia/independent). Haydari told Pol M/C that he had hosted the Minister of Defense to discuss prison issues and to press the point that the MOD is only legally allowed to hold prisoners for 24 hours. Haydari said, however, that the MOJ lacks the facilities and personnel to accept the MOD's prisoners in a timely fashion. Pol M/C emphasized to Haydari the importance of effectively addressing allegations of human rights abuse. ¶7. (C) According to Sultan, even as the PMO has lashed out against the prison inspectors from the MOHR and MOD with accusations of misconduct, the PM (perhaps seeing the writing on the wall) has also signed an order to transfer the 56th Brigade Facility at Camp Honor to the MOJ. Sultan expressed concern that this might be a diversionary tactic that allows the PM to appear to be responsive without ever planning to have the order actually carried out. Poloff pointed out that the PM's order placing Camp Honor under the MOJ could provide a sound legal basis for pressing the various ministries involved to make the order a reality. ¶8. (C) COMMENT: The MOHR's reports concerning the extent of abuses at Camp Honor are disturbing, especially with regard to the discovery that persons previously discredited for abusing detention authority for personal gain, continue to be Qabusing detention authority for personal gain, continue to be in positions that would allow them to potentially continue this practice. We are also concerned by persistent reports that the PMO is attempting to silence its critics within the GOI's human rights apparatus with countercharges of misconduct. On the bright side, the MOHR and the MOD's Human Rights Directorate have shown exceptional determination in challenging Iraq's security apparatus head on and deserve credit for working in concert and with Parliament to maximize the pressure on the PM to reign in the 56th Brigade. The Embassy will continue to weigh in with the GOI to insist it address allegations of human rights abuses and discourage any efforts to intimidate those reporting such abuses. END COMMENT. HILL