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OO RUEHAG RUEHDBU RUEHFL RUEHKW RUEHLA RUEHNP RUEHROV RUEHSL
DE RUEHTH #1349/01 2101323
ZNY SSSSS ZZH
O R 291325Z JUL 09
FM AMEMBASSY ATHENS
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 0490
INFO EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
RUEHGB/AMEMBASSY BAGHDAD 0002
RUEHTH/AMEMBASSY ATHENS S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 02 ATHENS 001349 
 
SIPDIS 
AMEMBASSY ANKARA PASS TO AMCONSUL ADANA 
AMEMBASSY ASTANA PASS TO USOFFICE ALMATY 
AMEMBASSY BERLIN PASS TO AMCONSUL DUSSELDORF 
AMEMBASSY BERLIN PASS TO AMCONSUL LEIPZIG 
AMEMBASSY BELGRADE PASS TO AMEMBASSY PODGORICA 
AMEMBASSY HELSINKI PASS TO AMCONSUL ST PETERSBURG 
AMEMBASSY ATHENS PASS TO AMCONSUL THESSALONIKI 
AMEMBASSY MOSCOW PASS TO AMCONSUL VLADIVOSTOK 
AMEMBASSY MOSCOW PASS TO AMCONSUL YEKATERINBURG 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 2019/07/29 
TAGS:              
SUBJECT: GREECE DEPORTS IRAQI INSURGENT COMMANDER WHO ENTERED AS 
ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT 
 
REF: 08 ATHENS 1387 
 
CLASSIFIED BY: Daniel V. Speckhard, Ambassador; REASON: 1.4(B), (D) 
 
Summary 
 
------- 
 
 1. (S) Greek authorities deported Iraqi citizen Mu'ammar Latif 
Karim (a.k.a. Abu Sajjad), accused of being a Shia insurgent 
commander responsible for IED and other attacks in Iraq, on July 
 21.  We understand he was arrested by Iraqi authorities on his 
arrival by plane in Irbil July 22.  Greek authorities originally 
picked up Abu Sajjad with a group of other illegal immigrants near 
the Turkish border in January, but Greek officials did not know his 
identity at the time and released him with an order to depart the 
country.  He was arrested again in February in Athens, as a result 
of effective cooperation involving Greek law enforcement, 
representatives of a number of USG agencies located in both Greece 
and Iraq, and Iraqi authorities.  This case resulted in the 
successful conclusion of Abu Sajjad ending up in Iraqi custody, but 
it also highlights the continuing danger of terrorists using the 
crowded migration route into Greece as a way to enter Europe.  End 
Summary. 
 
 
 
From Iraq to Greece...and Back 
 
----------------------------- 
 
 2. (S) According to separate sensitive reporting, the Greek border 
guard unit based in Didymoteicho, a Greek town in Western Thrace 
near the land border with Turkey, arrested Abu Sajjad and 22 other 
aliens on January 5, after they were spotted along the 
Didymoteicho-Alexandropoulis highway.  Abu Sajjad was subsequently 
released from detention with an order to leave the country, as is 
typical for illegal aliens detained in Greece.  Greek authorities 
re-arrested Abu Sajjad in Athens on February 14.  Abu Sajjad 
reportedly claimed he was a Palestinian, something alien smugglers 
often coach illegal aliens to do in order to get a shorter 
detention period.   After learning his real identity, authorities 
held him and two associates for false documents and other charges. 
The case received some minor press attention in Greece in March, 
although the story did not appear to draw significant attention 
from the Greek public at the time. 
 
 
 
 3. (S) The Iraqi government submitted an INTERPOL red notice on Abu 
Sajjad in March for "terrorist activities, kidnapping, killing, 
supplying explosives, and detonating explosives."  Following 
complex Greek-Iraqi interactions which USG officials in Greece and 
Iraq facilitated by maintaining close contact with local partners, 
Greek authorities put Abu Sajjad on a plane late on July 21.  We 
received information July 22 that he had been arrested by Iraqi 
authorities on his arrival in Irbil. 
 
 
 
Comment 
 
------- 
 
 4. (C) Greek officials worked closely with the USG on this case, 
which was legally complicated and crossed multiple Greek and 
international jurisdictions that do not ordinarily cooperate 
easily.  They deserve credit for successfully arresting and 
deporting Abu Sajjad, although as in other such sensitive 
counterterrorism cases, Greek officials prefer private and low-key 
credit vice public recognition.  This case is a real-world example 
of the danger of extremists and terrorists taking advantage of the 
huge and growing waves of illegal migrants (tens of thousands in 
2008) originating in conflict zones in the Middle East, transiting 
Turkey, and then entering the EU through Greece's mountainous land 
border or the thousands of islands in the Aegean (reftel).  As we 
have noted before, these overwhelming numbers have left Greek 
officials in need of more help from the EU, including by 
strengthening the activities of FRONTEX on the Greek border.  We 
 
ATHENS 00001349  002 OF 002 
 
 
believe it is in U.S. interests to support these efforts to the 
extent we can, including by building up programs on the basis of 
the new memorandum of agreement between DHS and FRONTEX.  At the 
same time, the migration challenge is an important justification 
for our proposal for re-initiating a DS/ATA Anti-Terrorism 
Assistance program to train Greek law enforcement officials. 
SPECKHARD