INDEPENDENT NEWS

Cablegate: Referral of Interpreter Ansam Shihab Ahmed

Published: Thu 29 Mar 2007 07:06 AM
VZCZCXRO8438
PP RUEHBC RUEHDE RUEHIHL RUEHKUK
DE RUEHGB #1098 0880706
ZNY EEEEE ZZH
P 290706Z MAR 07
FM AMEMBASSY BAGHDAD
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 0452
INFO RUCNRAQ/IRAQ COLLECTIVE
UNCLAS E F T O BAGHDAD 001098
SIPDIS
SIPDIS
STATE FOR PRM/A; DHS FOR BCIS HEADQUARTERS; CAIRO FOR
REFCOORD; AMMAN FOR REFCOORD AND CONSULAR
E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/29/2017
TAGS: PREF PHUM IZ
SUBJECT: REFERRAL OF INTERPRETER ANSAM SHIHAB AHMED
REF: STATE 326248
SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED. FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY.
1. Embassy Baghdad would like to refer Ansam Shihab Ahmed to
the US Refugee Admissions Program.
2. (SBU) Biographical information:
NAME: Ansam Shihab Ahmed
DOB: 27 November 1972
POB: Iraq
Passport Number: S 285869
Gender: Female
Marital Status: Single (divorce)
Dependents: N/A
3. (SBU) Description of persecution claim, as presented by
the embedded Public Diplomacy Officer (PDO) for the
Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) in Al Anbar, who has
known Ansam since October 2006. Ansam works with the 4th
Civil Affairs Group (CAG) and Multinational Forces and the
Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) as an Iraqi
interpreter/translator. Her direct employer is Titan, an
American contractor serving the military. Ansam has worked
as a translator and simultaneous interpreter for the
Multinational Forces (MNF) since February of 2004. Her
assignments have included Psychological Operations (PSYOPS),
Information Operations (IO), and the 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th
CAG. She is presently assigned to the II Marine
Expeditionary Force (MEF) based at Camp Fallujah, and works
also on special operations and the PRT. Her father was
poisoned in a training camp under Saddam Hussein,s regime.
Her mother and four sisters were kidnapped and assassinated
by Shi,te militia in 2003. She has no remaining immediate
family. Once Ansam began working for MNF she began receiving
death threats from Shi,te militia, Sunni insurgents and Al
Qaida terrorists who accused her of being a traitor, spy and
"whore" for the occupation forces.
4) (SBU) Ansam lives inside the Camp Fallujah base, which is
located in the most dangerous war zone in Iraq. Her picture
has been found posted in mosques throughout Al Anbar and
Baghdad with a fatwa (Islamic ruling) calling for her death
for being an apostate and an infidel. Her family and tribal
leaders called for her death following her divorce, her
conversion from Islam to Christianity, and her residence with
Marines at Camp Fallujah. The family and tribe demanded her
life to restore honor to the clan. The last time Ansam was
in Baghdad, her best friend was kidnapped by armed, masked
gunmen in a taxi and later found with a bullet through her
head and a note attached to her body warning "this is what
happens to traitors who help spies, Jews and the traitors."
Ansam was warned that Mahdi death squads were combing
neighborhoods in Baghdad searching for her. By the time she
escaped and returned to Fallujah, she received a telephone
call from a Sunni group called the "Angry Lions" calling for
her death for being a traitor to her tribe (the Dulaymi).
For over two years, Ansam has not been able to leave the base
without a protective force because of her work and death
threats against her.
5. (SBU) Justification for resettlement: Ansam Ahmed has
endured extreme hardship. In recent times she has undergone
depression and anxiety attacks as the 4th CAG prepares to
redeploy back to the United States, realizing that she would
be left behind on her own. She has learned from reliable
sources that her name and information on her passport and
identification applications have been passed on to the
insurgents.
6. (SBU) Financial situation of PA: Ansam has some savings
and should not need financial assistance immediately.
7. (SBU) Name check: Completed. No matching hits.
8. Other: An intermediary claiming to have influence to
expedite the processing of an Iraqi G series passport took
Ansam's S series passport and has not returned it. Ansam may
not be able to retrieve the S passport back, and did not get
the G passport either. Therefore, she currently has no
passport.
SPECKHARD
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