Cablegate: Refugee Admissions Referral: Zainab Mohamed Ibrahim Adham

VZCZCXRO1408
PP RUEHBC RUEHDA RUEHDE RUEHIHL RUEHKUK
DE RUEHEG #0934/01 0920925
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 020925Z APR 07
FM AMEMBASSY CAIRO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 4390
INFO RUCNRAQ/IRAQ COLLECTIVE PRIORITY

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 CAIRO 000934

SIPDIS

SIPDIS
SENSITIVE

DEPT FOR PRM/A LIZ HARRIS; DHS FOR BCIS HEADQUARTERS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREF PHUM EG IZ
SUBJECT: REFUGEE ADMISSIONS REFERRAL: Zainab Mohamed Ibrahim Adham

REF: State 326248

SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED; PLEASE PROTECT ACCORDINGLY

1. (SBU) Embassy Cairo would like to refer the following Iraqi to
the US Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP):

Principal Applicant (PA):

Name: Zainab Mohamed Ibrahim Adham (a.k.a. Zainab Mohammed Adham)
DOB: Dec. 06, 1967
POB: Baghdad, Iraq
Gender: Female
Religion: Moslem/Sunni
Marital Status: Married

Dependents:

Name: Hazim Abd Al Wahab Amin Al Taii
DOB: 16OCT1963
POB: Baghdad, Iraq
Gender: Male
Marital Status: Married
Religion: Moslem/Sunni
Relation to PA: Husband

Name: Sara Hazim Abd Al Wahab Amin Al Taii
DOB: 05APR1989
POB: Baghdad, Iraq
Gender: Female
Marital Status: Single
Religion: Moslem/Sunni
Relation to PA: Daughter

Name: Selma Hazim Abd Al Wahab Amin Al Taii
DOB: 17NOV1992
POB: Baghdad, Iraq
Gender: Female
Marital Status: Single
Religion: Moslem/Sunni
Relation to PA: Daughter

Name: Sura Hazim Abd Al Wahab Amin Al Taii
DOB: 12APR1997
POB: Baghdad, Iraq
Gender: Female
Marital Status: Single
Religion: Moslem/Sunni
Relation to PA: Daughter

Name: Lina Hazim Abd Al Wahab Amin Al Taii (a.k.a. Aisha Hazim Abd
Al Wahab Amin Al Taii)
DOB: 27 FEB2000
POB: Baghdad, Iraq
Gender: Female
Marital Status: Single
Religion: Moslem/Sunni
Relation to PA: Daughter

2. (SBU) Description of applicant's persecution claim: Zainab Adham
worked as an Information Resources Assistant in the Cultural Affairs
Office of US Embassy Baghdad, starting in August 2005. She became
increasingly fearful moving in and out of the Green Zone as violence
increased. She resigned from her position in October 2006, after
militias attacked her neighborhood, took over her house and property
and killed a neighbor. She was identified as an employee of the
U.S. Embassy and was called a "traitor" and was threatened with
death if she was found by the militias.

3. (SBU) Zainab said her family lived in a southeast neighborhood
in Baghdad for more than 15 years. Between late 2005 through 2006,
the level of violence increased in her neighborhood and she said
that Sunni families were regularly targeted and attacked by Shia
militias, making her increasingly fearful because she and her family
are Sunnis. Further, she said that while her neighbors did not know
that both Zainab and her husband were working for the US Embassy and
a USG-contractor, respectively, she became increasingly worried that
this information would become known. In August 2006, when Zainab
was attending a US-sponsored conference in Abu Dhabi, armed militia
(she believes it was the Shia Mahadi militia) attacked her
neighborhood, and began shooting and killing Sunnis in the
neighborhood. These attacks went on for three days, and at least
one Sunni neighbor, who lived on the same street as her family, was
killed. The miltias told the other neighbors that this was the
first killing and that "all Sunni people in this street would be
next." Her husband, who was in their home during these attacks,
fled with their four children, going first to his parent's house and
then to Egypt. He called Zainab in Abu Dhabi at the conference,
told her what happened, and said that the armed militias had taken
over their house. She did not return to Baghdad and instead came to

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Egypt in September 2006 and joined her family.

4. (SBU) In that same month, she said that she was told by her
friends who will still living in her old neighborhood in Baghdad
that the militias were looking for her and her family because they
now knew that she and her husband had been working for the United
States. Her neighbors told her that these militia had threatened
her, calling her a "traitor working for the Americans," saying that
"if we meet her we will kill her." Her neighbors warned her not to
return because now that the militias occupied her house, they had
evidence that she had been working for the United States. Her
files, and photographs and paperwork, all of which had been hidden
in her house, demonstrated her association with the United States.

5. (SBU) Justification for resettlement: Zainab is known to the US
Embassy, where she worked for more than one year, and was an
employee in good standing. Refcoord met with Zainab and believes
that she has a genuine fear of persecution because of her work with
the US government.

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