VZCZCXRO6063
OO RUEHBC RUEHDE RUEHIHL RUEHMOS
DE RUEHKUK #0079/01 0971403
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
O R 071403Z APR 06
FM REO KIRKUK
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 0593
RUEHGB/AMEMBASSY BAGHDAD IMMEDIATE 0557
INFO RUCNRAQ/IRAQ COLLECTIVE
RUEHKUK/REO KIRKUK 0621

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 KIRKUK 000079 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
BAGHDAD FOR POL, PAO, ROL COORDINATOR, NCT, IRMO, USAID 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL:  4/7/2016 
TAGS: PINS PGOV KDEM KCOR KISL IZ IR
SUBJECT: PUK CRACKDOWN ON ALLEGED HALABJAH PROTESTORS 
 
REF: (A)  KIRKUK , (B)  KIRKUK 69 
 
KIRKUK 00000079  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
CLASSIFIED BY: Scott Dean, Acting Regional Coordinator, , REO 
Kirkuk, DoS. 
REASON: 1.4 (b), (d) 
 
 
 
¶1.  (C)  SUMMARY.  In the wake of the March 16 violent protests 
in Halabjah, the PUK has confiscated cameras and film, using 
them to identify perpetrators.  Asayish security forces were 
arresting suspected protestors by conducting raids in the middle 
of the night wearing ski masks.  A source in the Asayish told 
our interlocutor that the PUK as of March 28 had detained 60 
persons in conjunction with the Halabjah events.  Islamists thus 
far have refrained from publicly capitalizing on the protests. 
END SUMMARY. 
 
¶2. (SBU)  This is second in a series of cables reporting an 
in-depth look at the violent March 16 protests in Halabjah. 
This cable lays out the security crackdown after the protests. 
Ref A reported on the events leading up to and on the day of the 
protest.  The last cable will report on prospects for violence 
elsewhere in Kurdistan.  RC(A) and IPAO met on March 28 with 
Yerivan Adham Sa'id, a free lance press interpreter and native 
of Halabjah, who was present during the entirety of the Halabjah 
events and supported the demonstrations.  Sa'id was the 
freelance interpreter for the March 17 New York Times story, a 
subsequent National Public Radio story and was a major source 
for reftels. 
 
Halabjah Aftermath - Beefed Up Security 
--------------------------------------- 
 
¶3.  (SBU)  Sa'id said that PUK officials had anticipated that 
the March 16 protests might get out of control and thus brought 
in large numbers of Asayish (security forces) to secure the area 
where the ceremony took place.  The protests were over by 1:00. 
Between 2:00 and 3:00 more forces started arriving.  The PUK 
brought in Peshmerga after 4 p.m. and imposed martial law during 
the next four days.  Sa'id said the PUK installed Peshmerga 
"every five meters" throughout Halabjah's market area.  On March 
17, a man (who sustained head injuries) and his four-year-old 
son were shot, but not killed, when they accidentally drove 
through one newly established security checkpoint. 
 
¶4.  (C)  Sa'id said As Sulaymaniyah KRG Deputy Prime Minister 
Emad Ahmad and Interior Minister Uthman Mahmud made a joint 
decision to permit the government to confiscate the cameras and 
film of those who were present during the protests.  Sa'id said 
the government kept the equipment for three or four days, copied 
the film, then returned the cameras and the original film to the 
owners.  Ahmad publicly said that the PUK security forces were 
using the film to identify the participants and punish them 
accordingly.  Asayish officials themselves also filmed the 
events. 
 
Ski Masks in the Night: Asayish Arrests Alleged Protestors 
--------------------------------------------- ------------- 
 
¶5.  (C)  Sa'id reported that as of March 28 Asayish wearing ski 
masks were continuing to raid homes at night to arrest and 
detain suspected protestors.  He said the Asayish on March 26 
had arrested around 30 people in one neighborhood.  Sa'id 
reported that he had heard through an indirect source that a man 
recently was able to avoid arrest during a 2 a.m. Asayish raid 
on his home because his wife and daughters screamed loudly 
enough to awaken and gather the neighbors.  When asked why the 
Asayish wore ski masks, Sa'id said Halabjah was a small enough 
place that the Asayish members knew the arrestees' families 
would otherwise recognize them. 
 
¶6.  (C)  The KRG had sent some of those detained to As 
Sulaymaniyah prison.  Sa'id had heard reports that several of 
Halabjah's young men had fled to the mountains.  Some had fled 
to the Iranian border, bearing arms and fearing detainment if 
they returned to their homes or school.  Sa'id said that a 
contact in the Asayish recently told him that the Asayish had 
detained more than 60 individuals; as of March 28, they had 
released about 6.  The KRG had not arrested the ten students who 
had originally organized the protests and met with PM Fattah 
(ref B) since they had backed away from the protest before it 
began. 
 
¶7.  (C)  Sa'id said the Asayish was conducting these raids 
without court orders.  Furthermore, NGO's were not allowed to 
see the detainees, according to press reports.  When Sa'id asked 
a recently released detainee whether he had been beaten, the 
individual responded, "no comment."  With the exception of 
Hawlati and Awena - the only two independent newspapers - media 
outlets and the people of Halabjah have not spoken out on 
 
KIRKUK 00000079  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
Asayish injustices because they fear going to jail. 
 
Islamists Remain Quiet 
---------------------- 
 
¶8.  (SBU)  Sa'id said PUK officials in years past had been able 
to shift the blame for Halabjah's lack of services to the 
Islamic activists, saying the Islamic activists prevented the 
PUK from pursuing reconstruction.  Sa'id argued, however, that 
the claim now was unfounded since PUK and Coalition Forces had 
cleared Islamic activists from the Halabjah area following 
Operation Iraqi Freedom.  According to Sa'id, the Islamists had 
only a small presence in the demonstrations and were not driving 
the events.  Most protestors were typical students who did not 
always obey Islamic strictures.  Sa'id said that well over 50 
percent of the demonstrators were strong PUK supporters.  The 
17-year-old boy who was killed came from a family of strong PUK 
supporters. 
 
¶9.  (C)  Sa'id said the Kurdistan Islamic Union (KIU) had 
supported the students in their protests, but denounced those 
who destroyed property.  Sa'id thought that the KIU had 
refrained from capitalizing on the protests for fear the PUK and 
KDP would accuse it of supporting terrorists.  The Kurdistan 
Islamic Group as of March 28 had said nothing publicly about the 
incident.  Sa'id agreed that incidents like the Halabjah protest 
scored another victory for Islamic groups in northern Iraq. 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
¶10.  (C)  Sa'id clearly represents a sympathetic view toward the 
protestors, nevertheless the reports are troubling.  Asayish 
moves to confiscate journalists' cameras and conduct raids in 
the middle of the night wearing ski masks, if true, show how the 
KRG tends to deal with dissent.  The Islamists' continue to play 
a smart game: pursuing a quietist strategy that lets the KRG 
lose support through its own overreaction and avoids giving any 
excuse for PUK moves against the Islamic parties. 
ORESTE