VZCZCXYZ0074
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHRB #0170/01 0561837
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 251837Z FEB 09
FM AMEMBASSY RABAT
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 9734
INFO RUCNMGH/MAGHREB COLLECTIVE
RUEHCL/AMCONSUL CASABLANCA 4518
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA 1119

UNCLAS RABAT 000170 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR NEA/MAG, DRL FOR NEA/SA AND INR 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM PGOV PREL KDEM KPAO TS MO
SUBJECT: GAZA, GUANTANAMO, AND A LEFTIST THAW: MEETING WITH 
ACTIVISTS 
 
REF: A. TUNIS 0061 
     ¶B. 2007 MOROCCO HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT 
     ¶C. INR ASSESSMENT: GAZA CONFLICT TAKES TOLL ON U.S. 
        IMAGE 02/18/2009 
 
Sensitive but Unclassified. Please Protect Accordingly. 
 
-------- 
Summary: 
-------- 
 
¶1.  (SBU) A leftist human rights activist broke a 
long-standing boycott to meet with us on February 17, after 
he was barred from entering Tunis for a human rights 
conference in late January.  The fact of the meeting was a 
sign of a nascent but broad thaw beginning to take place due 
to the change in U.S. administrations.  Although he and a 
colleague strongly criticized the USG's role in recent Gaza 
events, he left the door open to further communication. 
Reflecting what we hear in other contexts, it appears that 
leftist Moroccans' perceptions of the U.S. and its policies 
are beginning to drift towards the positive, but are still 
subject to hardening as a result of external factors such as 
incidents in Israel/Palestine.  End summary. 
 
---------- 
Background 
---------- 
 
¶2.  (SBU) On February 17, PolFsn and PolOff met with the head 
of the Maghreb Coordination Office for Human Rights 
Organizations (CMODH) Abdelhamid Amin, who, on January 23, 
was barred from entering Tunisia to attend a human rights 
conference (Ref A).  Amin is also a board member and past 
president of the Moroccan Association of Human Rights (AMDH), 
which, with 20,000 members, is Morocco's largest human rights 
group (akin to Amnesty International).  AMDH is influential 
and has not been afraid to challenge the monarchy and 
existing order, leading to the long-term imprisonment of some 
members (Ref B).  The organization has vocally criticized and 
boycotted all contact with the USG for five years out of 
anger over U.S. Middle East policies.  Amin agreed to see 
EmbOffs only in his CMODH hat.  However, the meeting was held 
at AMDH headquarters, in a room emblazoned with posters and 
containing a papier mache face with padlocked lips, where the 
CMODH is temporarily based. 
 
-------------------------------- 
Welcome to Tunisia...Now Go Away 
-------------------------------- 
 
¶3.  (SBU) Amin told EmbOffs that a diplomat (whose name he 
did not know) from the Tunisian Embassy called him a week 
before he was scheduled to depart for a Tunisian Human Rights 
League (LTDH) convention and suggested that he ¬ 
attend.8  A day later, the same officer called back and 
informed Amin that he would not be granted entry if he went. 
On debarking from his airplane on January 23, Amin said he 
was met by a group of plainclothes officers who asked him to 
re-board the aircraft.  He refused, and they ushered him and 
a traveling companion into a room at the airport.  He called 
LTDH members and informed them of his situation.  After a 
period of fruitless discussions, he agreed to return to 
Morocco.  He wrote a letter to Moroccan Prime Minister El 
Fassi, and AMDH held some protests outside the Tunisian 
Embassy, but El Fassi's office said there was nothing more it 
could (or would) do. 
 
¶4.  (SBU) Amin explained that the CMODH is composed of 
fourteen human rights groups from the five Maghreb countries 
and two organizations in Paris.  It was founded in Rabat in 
2006 to coordinate support for victims of human rights abuses 
and to increase communication and skills among human rights 
activists working in the Maghreb region.  In a surprising 
statement, given his and the AMDH's history, he said he was 
quite open to the idea of CMODH partnering with the USG on 
projects or funding, &as long as it did not compromise our 
independence.8 
 
------------- 
Viva Guevara! 
------------- 
 
¶5.  (SBU) A cell phone playing Hasta Siempre (the &Che 
Guevara song8) interrupted Amin's explanation.  The phone's 
owner, who had been sitting at the other end of the 
conference table reading newspapers, turned it off, flung a 
 
corner of her keffiyeh angrily over her shoulder, introduced 
herself as Samira Kinani, and said AMDH should not be meeting 
with the U.S. Embassy.  PolFsn assured her that the meeting 
was with Amin in his capacity as CMODH President, but Kinani 
reiterated the need for the boycott, highlighting Iraq, 
Afghanistan, and Palestine as key areas of disagreement.  "We 
are revolutionaries, and we must stand up for principles," 
she emphasized. 
 
----------------------------- 
(And Why Are You Here Anyway? 
----------------------------- 
 
¶6.  (SBU) Kinani interrupted the meeting again to ask PolOff 
why he was meeting with NGOs and why she kept reading news 
reports of American officers roaming the country "questioning 
people."  "Would you accept such interference if Moroccan 
officials acted similarly in the U.S.," she asked.  Kinani 
added that U.S. diplomats should limit their discussions to 
governmental channels.  Kinani appeared surprised and 
mollified when she was told that the USG thought it crucial 
for its representatives to hear more than just official 
government perspectives, and placed great importance in 
hearing criticisms of U.S. policies from average Moroccans 
like herself. 
 
------------------- 
Gaza Supersedes All 
------------------- 
 
¶7.  (SBU) Amin respectfully but insistently questioned why 
the USG persisted in violating international law through "its 
actions Palestine."  He dismissed recent Executive Orders 
related to Guantanamo and torture as "small responses to 
recent events" that pale in comparison to the "decades-long 
crime" of U.S. Israeli policy.  Kinani once again intervened 
asking why the USG refuses to apply the UN charter in 
relation to Israel, supports war criminals because they are 
Israeli, refuses the right of Palestinians to a state, and 
considers Palestinians terrorists. 
 
¶8.  (SBU) Amin interjected that he, and most Moroccans, do 
not support HAMAS's religion-based vision of governance, but 
he respects the fact that they won the popular vote in Gaza. 
He added that USG actions vis a vis Israel have helped 
recruit terrorists and made it difficult for moderate regimes 
like Morocco's to counter extremists.  Kinani dismissed any 
comparison between Israel/Palestine and Arab states' policies 
toward Sudan. 
 
-------------------------- 
The Beginnings of the Thaw 
-------------------------- 
 
¶9.  (SBU) Towards the end of the meeting, Amin said he was 
hopeful about the new Obama Administration, but that he was 
taking a "wait and see" approach until it had a chance to 
prove itself.  No friend of the Moroccan power structure, 
Amin, nonetheless, said that Morocco was the most advanced 
country in the region in terms of reform and human rights. 
However, he encouraged the USG to hold the Moroccan 
Government and other allies accountable for violations and 
backsliding regardless of counterterror imperatives and 
strategies.  He asked the Embassy to continue contact with 
him and the CMODH and said he appreciated the opportunity to 
speak, and appreciated the USG's willingness to listen.  A 
more pleasant and relaxed Kinani asked for EmbOffs, contact 
information and shared the address of her blog. 
 
-------- 
Comment: 
-------- 
 
¶10.  (SBU) The very fact that this meeting took place, after 
several weeks of telephone and email negotiations, is a sign 
of how the change in U.S. administrations is beginning to 
alter dynamics on the ground in Morocco.  It also provided a 
window into evolving leftist Moroccan perceptions and 
attitudes towards the USG.  Despite the sometimes strident 
and doctrinaire statements made during the discussion, Amin 
seemed to treat the event as a test case for restoring 
"relations" with the USG. 
 
¶11.  (SBU) Comment continued: Kinani's surprise and eventual 
warming as a result of personal contact with EmbOffs 
reinforces the importance of enhanced and broad Embassy 
outreach in all MENA countries during this transition period 
 
to "rehumanize" the USG to skeptical but grudgingly hopeful 
populations.  Both Amin's and Kinani's comments made clear, 
however, that the current thaw is fragile and subject to 
disruption by events in Israel/Palestine and beyond (Ref C). 
End Comment. 
 
 
***************************************** 
Visit Embassy Rabat's Classified Website; 
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/rabat 
***************************************** 
 
Jackson