Cablegate: Sunni Extremist Re-Arrested

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DE RUEHMK #0021 0140756
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P 140756Z JAN 10
FM AMEMBASSY MANAMA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 9151
INFO RUEHZM/GULF COOPERATION COUNCIL COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RHBVAKS/COMUSNAVCENT PRIORITY
RHMFISS/HQ USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL PRIORITY
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C O N F I D E N T I A L MANAMA 000021

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/14/2020
TAGS: PTER PGOV ASEC BA
SUBJECT: SUNNI EXTREMIST RE-ARRESTED

REF: A. 09 MANAMA 62
B. 09 MANAMA 83
C. 09 MANAMA 220
D. 09 MANAMA 241
E. 09MANAMA 281 Classified By: Ambassador Adam Ereli for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).

1.(C) Summary: Bahraini press reported January 13 that Adel Saleh, a convicted Sunni extremist pardoned in April 2009, was rearrested on January 11. Security authorities had been monitoring Saleh since he was released from prison early last year. End Summary. ---------- Background ----------

2.(C) Adel Saleh was arrested in June 2008 and convicted in February 2009 of traveling to Iran three times to deliver 50,500 euros to Al Qaeda contacts (ref A). The Public Prosecution appealed the one-year sentence (ref B), but that process was short-circuited when Saleh was included as the only Sunni in an April 2009 royal pardon that included 177 Shia security detainees (refs C and D). Attorney General Ali bin Fadhel Al Buainain told DCM in May 2009 that the Bahrain National Security Agency (BNSA) would monitor Saleh's activities and that BNSA was holding his passport to ensure he could not travel abroad (ref E). --------- Re-arrest ---------

3.(U) Press reports of January 13 quoted a representative of the Adala Movement - a small Salafist political grouping with close ties to known Sunni extremists - as saying that Saleh had been arrested at a mosque following noon prayers on January 11.

4.(C) Comment: A wealth of prior reporting exists on Adel Saleh by virtue of his previous conviction. His re-arrest confirms that the GOB has continued to keep close tabs on his activities and communications since his release from prison in April 2009. ERELI

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