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### Viewing cable 06WELLINGTON826, KIWI MUSLIMS: WAHHABIS IN THEIR MIDST

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Reference ID | Created | Released | Classification | Origin
--- | --- | --- | --- | ---
06WELLINGTON826 | 2006-10-24 02:02 | 2011-04-28 00:12 | CONFIDENTIAL | Embassy Wellington

`

    VZCZCXRO7973
    PP RUEHCHI RUEHDT RUEHNH RUEHPB
    DE RUEHWL #0826/01 2970232
    ZNY CCCCC ZZH
    P 240232Z OCT 06
    FM AMEMBASSY WELLINGTON
    TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 3401
    INFO RUCNARF/ASEAN REGIONAL FORUM COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
    RUEHWL/USDAO WELLINGTON NZ PRIORITY
    RHEHAAA/NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL WASHDC PRIORITY
    RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHDC PRIORITY
    RHEFDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
    RHHMUNA/CDR USPACOM HONOLULU HI PRIORITY
    RUEAIIA/CIA WASHINGTON DC//TTIC// PRIORITY

` `

    C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 WELLINGTON 000826

    SIPDIS

    SIPDIS

    DEPT FOR EAP/ANP AND S/CT

    E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/24/2016
    TAGS: PGOV PINR PINS PTER PREL KISL SMIG NZ
    SUBJECT: KIWI MUSLIMS: WAHHABIS IN THEIR MIDST

    REF: A) WELLINGTON 811 B) WELLINGTON 341 C)

         WELLINGTON 570

    Classified By: DCM David Keegan for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).

    This cable was drafted by ConGen Auckland and approved by
    Embassy Wellington.

    ¶1.    (SBU) SUMMARY: New Zealand Muslims are getting
    increased attention from broader society as the community
    faces internal divisions, Wahhabi influence from overseas
    groups, and discrimination.  Alleged Wahhabi activities have
    been at the heart of some publicized schisms involving mosque
    administrations and student groups.  Whether or not there are
    extremists in the community, Muslims are starting to feel a
    bit less welcome in New Zealand with periodic spikes in
    mosque desecrations and media attacks on Islam.  END SUMMARY.

    Internal divide
    ---------------

    ¶2.    (SBU) The Federation of Islamic Associations in New
    Zealand (FIANZ) is an umbrella organization for smaller
    Muslim groups in New Zealand.  FIANZ is the most prominent
    Muslim organization in the country (see ref A) with the most
    extensive links to government and broader society, but not
    all Muslims feel represented by it.

    ¶3.    (C) In a meeting with ConOff, Reza Khatami, president
    of the Aal-e-Muhammad Society (AEM), an unofficial student
    group at Auckland University, said FIANZ is essentially a
    Sunni establishment.  He said Shias do not feel represented
    by the national organization.  Although he claimed there are
    no tensions between FIANZ and the Shia community, he
    criticized FIANZ for not doing enough to educate New
    Zealanders about Islam.   A Shia himself, Khatami said AEM
    has some outreach activities but he did not give details.
    His predecessor and founding member of AEM, Shahin Soltanian,
    said there are approximately 8,000 Shias in New Zealand, most
    with roots in Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India and a
    smaller number hailing from Iraq.

    ¶4.    (C) Soltanian, who was also a past president of
    Auckland University's Islamic Society (AUIS), a registered
    student group informally affiliated with FIANZ, was also
    critical of FIANZ during his meeting with ConOff.  He said
    tolerance of extremist activities by both FIANZ and AUIS has
    been a contentious issue within the Muslim community.

    Wahhabi influence
    -----------------

    ¶5.    (C) Contrary to assertions by FIANZ president Javed
    Khan (see ref A) that there are no extremists in New Zealand,
    Soltanian told Conoff that Wahhabi groups have "overtly tried
    to influence New Zealand's Muslim society."  Soltanian said
    AUIS has sponsored speakers from Hizb ut-Tahrir and Al
    Haramain.  Soltanian claimed these two groups receive Saudi
    money for their activities.  AUIS's alleged drift towards or
    tolerance of Wahhabi ideology made it difficult for Shias and
    even some Sunnis to stay with the group, and so Soltanian and
    other disaffected members left to form AEM.

    ¶6.    (C) Soltanian said the extremists' activities are not
    limited to the university campus; he claims that there are
    extremist preachers who operate with the full knowledge of
    FIANZ and the GNZ.  After 9/11, he said the GNZ deported a
    few rabble-rousers, but others operate without hindrance
    aside from casual surveillance by the Government.  He also
    claims that while he and others are trying to counter these
    groups' activities, most of the community remains silent for
    fear of being branded infidels.  Soltanian asserted that
    inaction by the government, acquiescence by Muslim groups
    like FIANZ, and the extremists' strong financial backing from
    abroad make it difficult to counter their growing influence.
    He said their activities often target young Muslims.

    ¶7.    (C) ConOff's own visit to Ponsonby mosque, Auckland's
    oldest Islamic house of worship, provided a mixed picture.
    The imam wore traditional Arabic garb, sometimes indicative
    of Wahhabi leanings, but he followed orthodox, non-Wahhabi
    methods: during the sermon or "khutba" he praised the first
    four or "rightly guided" Caliphs, and he offered an
    additional prayer set prescribed by Islam's prophet after the

    WELLINGTON 00000826  002 OF 003

    congregational prayer )- steps often ignored by Wahhabis.
    The sermon focused on a traditional theme -) God's mercy )-
    and cited the common message of prophets from the Abrahamic
    faiths.  Posters were plastered on the mosque door for a
    protest the following day against Israeli actions in Lebanon
    (see ref C), but the protest was not mentioned in either the
    sermon or the community announcements that followed the
    imam's ministration. However, of the approximately 300
    worshippers attending the day's services, about 20%, mainly
    young adults of Arab appearance, were following Wahhabi-style
    worship methods.

    ¶8.    (C) Dr. William Shepard, a retired associate professor
    at Canterbury University, states that internal divisions in
    the Muslim Association of Canterbury (MAC) are partly due to
    the perception that the current management is Wahhabi.  In a
    yet unpublished update of his extensive research paper on New
    Zealand Muslims, which he confidentially shared with ConOff,
    Shepard writes "The present (MAC) management, commonly
    labelled (sic) 'Wahhabi' by its opponents, sought in 2003 to
    turn the mosque property over to a trust dominated by the
    Saudi Al-Haramain Trust in return for money to establish a
    school...The opposition group has vigorously opposed these
    efforts, aided by the discovery that some branches of the
    Haramain Trust had been involved with terrorist activity, and
    has even sought help from the local municipal authorities."
    In March, Canterbury newspaper The Press reported that MAC's
    finances had been frozen as a result of a power struggle
    within management. The opposition group promised to hold
    elections later to decide on a permanent management board for
    MAC.

    ¶9.    (C) Wahhabi footprints, though light, appear to have a
    long history.  Shepard's paper notes that the formation of
    FIANZ in 1979 was spurred by the visit of a Saudi delegation
    that encouraged the various Muslim groups to unite.  But
    while their current level of influence is difficult to
    ascertain, post-9/11 crackdowns on terrorist financing seems
    to have impaired some of their activities.

    Muslim bashing
    --------------

    ¶10.   (SBU) The community also faces external problems.
    Every few months the press reports allegations of
    discrimination against Muslims.  In May, a group of New
    Zealand Muslims accused the Customs Service of racial
    profiling.  The Dominion Post published an op-ed piece in
    February of this year in which the writer accused Muslims of
    being a "fifth column" for Tehran and Damascus. Following the
    summer's Heathrow hijacking scare, FIANZ asked Muslim women
    to avoid wearing Islamic headdress, and advised mosques to
    hire security firms to protect property.

    ¶11.   (SBU) Don Brash and his National party, as well as
    other right-of-center parties, are also seen as hostile to
    Muslims.  In recent weeks, Khan publicly criticized Brash for
    what FIANZ and some others believed were exclusionary remarks
    toward immigrants, especially Muslims.  Foreign Minister
    Winston Peters is infamous amongst Muslim New Zealanders for
    a remark in July 2005 that likened the community to a
    multi-headed hydra, saying even "moderate" or "mainstream"
    Muslims come from the same body as extremists )- "they fit
    hand and glove."

    ¶12.   (U) There have been spates of anti-Muslim vandalism;
    after the London bombings in July 2005 mosque walls were
    spray-painted and windows were broken.  Mosques were also
    attacked this past July during the Israeli-Lebanese conflict
    (see ref A).

    ¶13.   (C) At a group dinner attended by ConOff and active
    members of the Muslim community, Anjum Rahman, a former
    Labour parliamentary candidate and head of the Islamic
    Women's Council, said she was alienated at work after she
    decided to wear Islamic headdress or "hijab". Some cited
    incidents in which Muslims were passed over for jobs
    ostensibly because of their faith.  And Ali Ikram -- a TV One
    reporter and past participant in the Department's
    international visitor program (see ref B) -- said possible
    discrimination aside, many young and educated Muslim New
    Zealanders are, like their non-Muslim compatriots, leaving
    for Australia to find jobs.  The group said this local brain
    drain is depriving the community of its most promising

    WELLINGTON 00000826  003 OF 003

    members who could also help uninitiated Kiwi Muslims
    integrate more easily into the broader society (see ref A).

    ¶14.   (C) COMMENT: Reftel A showed that the first large wave
    of Muslim immigrants from the 1960s through the 1980s had no
    choice but to interact with their non-Muslim neighbors, and
    was thus quickly initiated into traditional New Zealand life.
     They were largely English-speaking, educated service
    providers whose language abilities and job skills dovetailed
    with Kiwi society.  However, since the 1990s, immigrants with
    limited language and educational backgrounds have come into
    an already established Muslim community with mosques, Halal
    meat butchers, and government services available in their
    native language.  If not carefully managed, this could lead
    to the kind of insulation seen in some Muslim populations in
    Europe that can potentially serve as a breeding ground for
    homegrown extremists.  While we don't see extremism taking
    hold here yet, our GNZ counterparts and many Muslim leaders
    recognize the ingredients are there.   END COMMENT.
    McCormick

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