VZCZCXRO7778
OO RUEHBC RUEHDE RUEHIHL RUEHKUK
DE RUEHGB #0937/01 0751502
ZNY EEEEE ZZH
O 161502Z MAR 07
FM AMEMBASSY BAGHDAD
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 0229
INFO RUCNRAQ/IRAQ COLLECTIVE IMMEDIATE

UNCLAS E F T O SECTION 01 OF 02 BAGHDAD 000937 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR: PRM/A; DHS FOR BICS HEADQUARTER; CAIRO FOR 
REFCOORD; AMMAN FOR REFCOORD AND CONSULAR 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/16/2017 
TAGS: IZ PHUM PREF
SUBJECT: US REFUGEE ADMISSIONS PROGRAM REFERRAL FOR LOCALLY 
EMPLOYED STAFF EVEREST AL-BARAZANCHI KAREEM MOHAMMAD AMIN 
 
REF: STATE 16383 
 
¶1. Embassy Baghdad would like to refer the following locally 
employed staff to the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP) 
 
¶2. (SBU) 
 
Principal applicant (PA): 
 
Name: Everest Albarazanchi (A.k.A. Everest Kareem Mohammad 
Amin) 
DOB: November 27, 1974 (Iraqi Passport states in error 
November 17) 
POB: Basra 
Gender: Female 
Marital Status: Single 
 
Household Members 
 
Name: Afrodite Kareem Mohammad Amin 
DOB: July 24, 1966 
POB: Baghdad 
Gender: Female 
Marital Status: Single 
Relationship: Sister 
 
Name: Tara Kareem Mohammad Amin 
DOB: Aug 12 1972 
POB: Baghdad 
Gender: Female 
Marital Status: Single 
Relationship: Sister 
 
Name: Schwan Kareen Mohammad Amin 
DOB: July 27, 1968 
POB: Baghdad 
Gender: Male 
Marital Status: Married (Separated) 
Relationship: Brother 
 
Name: Kareem Mohammad Amin Ahmed 
DOB: July 1, 1933 
POB: Sulaymaniyah 
Gender: Male 
Marital Status: Married 
Relationship: Father 
 
Name: Nasreen Zainal-Deen Najim al Deen Al-Naqshabandi 
DOB: July 1, 1936 
POB Sulaymaniyah 
Gender: Female 
Marital Status: Married 
Relationship: Mother 
 
Name: Thuraya Ahmed Abdullah Abdul Rahman 
DOB: July 1, 1952 
POB: Sulaymaniyah 
Gender: Female 
Marital Status: Married 
Relationship: Cousin, caregiver 
 
¶3.  (SBU) Description of persecution claim, as reported by 
Everest and her American Supervisor: Everest has worked as a 
visa assistant in the Consular Section since June 2005, where 
she has met Iraqi officials and members of the Iraqi public 
everyday.  Prior to that she worked for Kellog Brown and Root 
inside the IZ from 2003.  Although she has never lived in 
Kurdistan she is a Sunni Kurd living in a mixed neighborhood 
in Baghdad.  Her household includes her father, mother, two 
sisters (who both work in the IZ), and a 48 year old woman 
she refers to as her cousin.  Her 38 year old brother works 
for the Iraq Minitry of Defense.  Her mother, older middle 
sister and brother all went to Jordan in late 2006 after a 
neighbor recognized the brother as working at the Ministry of 
Defense and two of the brothers coworkers were shot and 
killed.  After Everest's coworker was injured in a 
car-bombing, she temporarily moved in with her uncle in the 
IZ but cannot stay there permanently.  She, her father, 
sister and cousin will all depart permanently for Jordan on 
March 19 where they will meet with the UNHCR on March 22. 
The entire family depends on the income that the daughters 
receive.  In Jordan, they will depend on the income of the 
middle daughter who is working for her Iraqi company by 
email. 
 
¶4. (SBU) Everest has been one of the best employees of the 
Consular Section.  She now fears for her own life and her 
family's life is anyone learns that she works for the U.S. 
 
BAGHDAD 00000937  002 OF 002 
 
 
Embassy.  After Iraqis have seen her face at the Consular 
window for the past two years, she has to hide from the 
public in Baghdad for fear that someone will recognize her. 
Her fears were compounded when a neighbor recognized her 
brother from the Minstry of Defense and her sister as working 
at the MNF's Project Contracting Office.  She has brought 
everything she has related to her job into the office, for 
fear that someone might search their house and discover the 
connection.  She is not sure what the price is now, but in 
recent months the JAM in her neighborhood was offering USD 
5,000 to anyone who would tell them the identity of any U.S. 
Embassy worker. 
 
¶5. (SBU) She has never lived in Kurdistan but many of her 
family members were killed there by poison gas under Saddam. 
They do still have relatives there but Everest believes that 
there is still a strong danger of war and insurgency in 
Kurdistan.  She is afraid that Kurdistan will try to break 
off from the rest of Iraq.  She said that she has known war 
all her life and doesn't want to go anywhere, including 
Syria, where she will have to live in war again. 
 
¶6. (SBU) Everest's case was brought before the Embassy 
Refugee Committee on March 15 an the committee found her case 
to be credible and to warrant referral to the USRAP.  Class 
namechecks have been conducted on Everest and her household 
members.  The female members of the family has no close hits. 
 The two males have common names (Mohammad Ahmed and Karim 
Mohammad) and will have to be cleared in Washington. 
 
¶7. (SBU) Applicant should not be requiring financial support 
while the case is being processed. 
 
 
 
SPECKHARD