VZCZCXRO2883
PP RUEHBC RUEHDE RUEHDIR RUEHIHL RUEHKUK
DE RUEHGB #0840/01 0871549
ZNY SSSSS ZZH
P 281549Z MAR 09
FM AMEMBASSY BAGHDAD
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 2416
INFO RUCNRAQ/IRAQ COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUCNIRA/IRAN COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY

S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 02 BAGHDAD 000840 
 
SIPDIS 
NOFORN 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/28/2019 
TAGS: PHUM KREF IO IZ IR
SUBJECT: MEK DEFECTOR GOES TO TURKEY DUE TO LIMITED ICRC 
AND UNHCR SUPPORT 
 
REF: A. BAGHDAD 405 
     ¶B. 08 ANKARA 1270 
 
Classified By: Political Military Minister Counselor Michael Corbin for 
 reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). 
 
¶1.  (S/NF)  Summary:  Frustrated at the restrictive support 
provided to him in Iraq and afraid of returning to Iran, one 
of the two current Mujahedin e-Khalq (MEK) defectors has 
moved to Istanbul.  ICRC met regularly with the defectors 
(most recently on March 12) and offered to assist them to 
return to Iran, but has also made clear that it cannot 
monitor (i.e., protect) them on a daily basis in Iran.  UNHCR 
met with the defectors for the first time on March 15 and 
warned them that they would face lengthy delays, possibly up 
to a few years, if they sought resettlement through UNHCR. 
The fed-up defector took his Iranian Embassy-issued passport 
and $1,000 from the GOI and flew to Turkey.  However, he told 
us that he is not happy and has no support in Istanbul. 
There was no coordination between the GOI and GOT on this 
issue, which will likely cause an issue between Turkey and 
Iraq (as it has in the past with MEK refugees). Travel to 
Turkey is not a solution for the 3400 MEK residents of Camp 
Ashraf.  End Summary. 
 
--------------------------- 
MEK DEFECTOR GOES TO TURKEY 
--------------------------- 
 
¶2.  (S/NF)  Tired of living in a hotel room and frustrated 
with the limited support offered by ICRC and UNHCR, Mekki 
Rafii, one of the two Mujahedin e-Khalq (MEK) defectors, left 
Baghdad on March 19 and went to Istanbul (rumors of this trip 
were reported in ref A).  The GOI's MEK committee, headed by 
National Security Advisor (NSA) Muwaffaq al-Rubaie, gave him 
$1,000 and his passport, which had been recently issued by 
the Iranian Embassy.  The committee, including Ministry of 
Human Rights (MoHR) representatives, escorted him to the 
airport.  Mekki called MoHR officials from the hotel in 
Turkey and allegedly said he was happy and that the trip had 
gone smoothly.  However, he called us a few days later and 
said he is not happy and has no support or contacts with NGOs 
in Turkey. Minister of Human Rights Wijdan Salim told us on 
March 22 that she was concerned about the impact on GOI-GOT 
relations of sending MEK members to Turkey and discussed the 
possible consequences with the NSA, who she said stated the 
issue would not be a problem.  We emphasized that this would 
certainly be a problem, and the GOI should understand clearly 
that sending MEK members to Turkey was not a solution. 
 
¶3.  (C)  The second defector, Abbas Badfar, is still at the 
Rasheed hotel in the International Zone. He is afraid to 
leave for Turkey and refuses to return to Iran.  However, 
MoHR officials think he will go to Turkey after hearing that 
Mekki is doing well.  The GOI committee has Abbas's passport 
and is encouraging him to go to Turkey and stay with Mekki. 
The committee is also discussing other possibilities for 
housing the defectors; the bill for Mekki at the Rasheed 
hotel was $19,000 for less than a two-month stay. 
 
-------------------------------------------- 
LIMITED ICRC SUPPORT FOR REPATRATION TO IRAN 
-------------------------------------------- 
 
¶4.  (C)  On March 12, Minister Salim told PolOff that Mekki 
had decided to return to Iran with assistance from the ICRC 
and MoHR, who would have accompanied him.  ICRC confirmed to 
PolOff on March 14 that ICRC Iraq would assist with sending 
Mekki to Iran, and that ICRC Iran would facilitate his 
arrival.  ICRC emphasized that while it would be able to 
monitor Mekki en route to Iran and for a short period after 
Qmonitor Mekki en route to Iran and for a short period after 
his arrival, ICRC does not have the capacity to monitor 
Mekki's safety in Iran on an ongoing basis.  ICRC officials 
said they would do everything possible to follow his case, 
but there were no guarantees they would have adequate access 
to him since ICRC has less freedom to move around Iran than 
Iraq. 
 
¶5.  (C)  ICRC received approval from the Iranian Embassy in 
Baghdad to repatriate Mekki during a meeting on March 10, and 
the Embassy had been waiting for final approval from Tehran. 
ICRC confirmed this plan with Mekki during their March 12 
meeting; however, Mekki changed his mind the next day, saying 
he was too scared to go without daily ICRC monitoring of his 
safety in Iran.  ICRC told Mekki that the Iranian authorities 
had reiterated commitments of safety, and ICRC would not 
repatriate anyone if ICRC thought there were safety risks. 
Mekki said he wanted instead to pursue options of 
resettlement to a third country with UNHCR.  ICRC and UNHCR 
 
BAGHDAD 00000840  002 OF 002 
 
 
have consistently made clear to Iraqi officials that they 
will only support repatriation that is fully voluntary. 
 
------------------------------------- 
UNHCR LENGHTY RESETTLEMENT ASSISTANCE 
------------------------------------- 
 
¶6.  (C)  Carolyn Ennis, senior Protection Officer for UNHCR 
Iraq operations, met with the two defectors on March 15 at 
the Rasheed hotel and counseled them on their situation and 
options.  Ennis told them UNHCR could protect them as "asylum 
seekers" but warned them that UNHCR cannot assure a speedy 
and durable solution.  She told Mekki and Abbas that many 
asylum seekers, in particular former MEK members, had faced 
long delays in resettlement and future delays could be 
expected.  Ennis did not give them a time estimate but said 
it could take years. 
 
¶7.  (C)  According to the NSA official who was present at the 
meeting, Ennis was quite blunt with the defectors and did not 
leave them with much hope of being resettled soon.  Ennis 
told PolOff that she was trying to dispel unrealistic 
expectations that recognition as refugees by UNHCR would 
result in prompt resettlement.  According to ICRC, Mekki 
called ICRC after this meeting and said he would not pursue 
the resettlement option with UNHCR because it would take too 
long. 
 
------- 
COMMENT 
------- 
 
¶8.  (S/NF)  As noted last month when GOI plans for sending 
MEK defectors to Turkey became clear, a lack of coordination 
with the Turkish government over resettlement of MEK 
defectors in Turkey or transit through Turkey is an issue. 
The arrival in Turkey in 2008 of 45 former MEK members 
outraged the Turkish government (ref B),  and it is still 
unclear how the GOI plans to handle any new GOT fallout as a 
result of MEK members or defectors traveling to Turkey.  We 
will continue to make clear to the GOI that this is not an 
option that the USG can support, and that it may backfire on 
the GOI if MEK members are deported back to Iraq from Turkey. 
 
¶9.  (C)  It is noteworthy that the Iranian Embassy (although 
not yet Tehran) moved forward on the possibility of 
repatriating one of the MEK defectors  given that Iran had 
been stalling ICRC on repatriation of  Ashraf refugee camp 
defectors over the past year (ref A). 
BUTENIS