Updated: France arrests, then releases, alleged assassin of Jamal Khashoggi

December 8, 2021 by 1 Comment

Jamal KhashoggiAN ALLEGED MEMBER OF the assassin squad that killed and dismembered Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Turkey in 2018, is reportedly under arrest in France, where he was caught trying to board an international flight. Khashoggi, 59, was a Saudi government adviser who became critical of the Kingdom’s style of governance. He moved to the United States and began criticizing Saudi Arabia from the pages of The Washington Post. He was killed on October 2, 2018, by a 15-member Saudi hit squad while visiting the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey. He had gone there to be issued a certificate of divorce from his former wife in Saudi Arabia.

After several weeks of vehemently denying any role in Khashoggi’s killing, the Saudi government eventually admitted that the journalist was killed inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. One of Khashoggi’s alleged killers is Khaled Aedh Alotaibi (or al-Otaibi), a 33-year-old member of the Saudi Royal Guard Regiment, whose mission is to protect the Saudi royal family. Alotaibi has been barred from entering several Western countries, including the United States and the United Kingdom. But Saudi Arabia has rejected a request by Turkey to extradite him to face charges in a Turkish court. The oil kingdom argues that Alotaibi was not among a group of “rogue” intelligence officers” who killed Khashoggi, and have since been punished under Saudi law.

Yesterday several French media outlets reported that Alotaibi had been arrested at the Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport at 9:30 am local time, as he was about to board a commercial flight to the Saudi capital Riyadh. He was apparently traveling under his real passport and not under an assumed identity. He has since been placed under judicial detention, while French authorities are trying to confirm that he is the same person who is wanted for the killing of Khashoggi. If this is confirmed, Alotaibi will be facing a preliminary hearing this week, and a French court will have to decide whether he will be extradited to Turkey.

In a statement published late on Tuesday, the Saudi embassy in France dismissed Alotaibi’s arrest as “a case of mistaken identity” and repeated the official Saudi government stance that all those who participated in Khashoggi’s murder have already faced justice in Saudi Arabia. It is worth noting that Alotaibi’s arrest occurred just days after French President Emmanuel Macron became the first major Western leader to openly meet with Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohamed Mohammad Bin Salman. The de-facto ruler of the country is believed by many to have ordered Khashoggi’s assassination.

Update: Early on Wednesday, French prosecutors said that the warrant issued by Turkey for the arrest of Alotaibi did not apply to the individual arrested on Tuesday. In a statement released to the press, the prosecutor’s office said: “Extensive checks on the identity of this person showed that the warrant did not apply to him. [Therefore] he was released”.

► Author: Joseph Fitsanakis | Date: 08 December 2021 | Permalink

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Germany arrests mercenaries who tried to sell their services to Saudi Arabia

October 21, 2021 by Leave a comment

Yemeni Civil War

AUTHORITIES IN GERMANY HAVE pressed terrorism charges against two former soldiers, who tried to establish a mercenary army and place it in the service of Saudi Arabia, with the ultimate goal of fighting in Yemen. The two men were arrested following police raids in the southern German city of Munich and the southwestern district of Breisgau-Hochschwarzwald, near Switzerland. They were identified in a government press release only as “Arend-Adolf G.” and “Acim A.”, in accordance with strict German privacy laws.

German government prosecutors described the two former soldiers as the “ringleaders” of a plan to recruit up to 150 men with prior military and law enforcement experience. Their ultimate goal was to establish “a private army” that would offer its services to the government of Saudi Arabia. The two alleged ringleaders allegedly hoped that the oil kingdom wound task them with carrying out illegal operations in Yemen. This would allow Riyadh to deny any involvement in these operations, if the German mercenaries were captured while fighting in Yemen.

Saudi Arabia has been involved in the Yemeni Civil War since 2015. Riyadh’s involvement seeks to support the country’s Sunni-dominated government against the Shia-majority Houthi separatists. The Yemeni government is also supported by the United Arab Emirates and Qatar, while the United States has at times assisted the Saudi effort. The Houthi movement is believed to receive assistance from Iran. Over 100,000 people, most of them civilians, have perished so far in the war, which has been raging since 2014.

German government prosecutors allege that the two mercenary ringleaders hoped to convince the Saudi government to compensate each member of their private army with over $45,000 per month for their services. However, their efforts to attract the attention of the Saudi government and intelligence agencies were unsuccessful. Instead, they drew the attention of the German Military Counterintelligence Service, which alerted the police. The two men are now awaiting their pre-trial hearing, which is expected to take place next week.

► Author: Joseph Fitsanakis | Date: 21 October 2021 | Permalink

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US Justice Department and CIA may intervene in Saudi lawsuit to protect secrets

May 24, 2021 by 1 Comment

Saad al-Jabri

THE UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT of Justice and the Central Intelligence Agency may intervene in a civil lawsuit filed by an exiled Saudi spy against the oil kingdom’s de facto ruler, in order to protect state secrets. In a 106-page lawsuit, filed last year with the US District Court in Washington, DC, Dr. Saad al-Jabri claims that Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, dispatched members of his “personal mercenary group”, known as the Tiger Squad, to North America, in order to assassinate him.

Al-Jabri was a courtier of Crown Prince Muhammad bin Nayef, grandson of Saudi Arabia’s founding monarch, King Abdulaziz. Bin Nayef, who was widely expected to be Saudi Arabia’s next king, eventually appointed al-Jabri Minister of State and made him his senior adviser on matters of security and intelligence —in essence his spy chief. But al-Jabri’s standing changed suddenly in 2015, when King Abdullah died and was succeeded by King Salman. Salman then named his son, Mohammed bin Salman, as his successor, effectively usurping al-Jabri’s mentor and protector, Prince bin Nayef. Within weeks, al-Jabri had been fired, while his patron, bin Nayef had gone under house arrest. Fearing for his life, al-Jabri took his eldest son, Khalid, and escaped to Canada in the middle of the night. They remain there to this day.

Bin Salman’s lawyers have dismissed al-Jabri’s lawsuit as baseless, and accuse the former spy chief of embezzling $3.4 billion from Saudi state coffers under the pretense of funding security programs. Al-Jabri’s lawyers have told the court that an “examination of the counterterrorism and national security activities of the United States government” may be necessary in order to demonstrate that their client has not embezzled state funds.

This development has US government officials worried, according to The Washington Post’s well-sourced David Ignatius. He reports that, in April of this year, the US Department of Justice filed a document in a federal court in Massachusetts, in which it outlines its plans to intervene in al-Jabri’s lawsuit against bin Salman. According to the Department of Justice, al-Jabri’s legal team may intend “to describe information concerning alleged national security activities”, which is something the US government would like to prevent.

According to Ignatius, the Department of Justice could invoke the rarely used “state secrets privilege”, which allows the US government to refuse to disclose information when ordered to do so by a court of law, if there is a “reasonable danger” that doing so could threaten US national security. Ignatius added that the Central Intelligence Agency is also looking into whether it could resist a judge’s orders to disclose information pertaining to the case of al-Jabri.

► Author: Joseph Fitsanakis | Date: 24 May 2021 | Permalink

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Saudi crown prince dismisses US lawsuit brought by ex-spy official as ‘baseless’

December 9, 2020 by Leave a comment

Saad al-JabriA LAWSUIT FILED IN a United States court by a Saudi former senior intelligence official, accuses Saudi Arabia’s crown prince Mohammed bin Salman of planning an illegal assassination on Canadian soil. But in a new court filing, the crown prince denies the accusation and claims that it is an attempt to distract attention from the alleged crimes carried out by the plaintiff.

The target of the alleged assassination attempt is Dr. Saad al-Jabri, who rose through the ranks of the Saudi aristocracy in the 1990s, under the tutelage of his patron, Crown Prince Muhammad bin Nayef. Prince bin Nayef is the grandson of Saudi Arabia’s founding monarch, King Abdulaziz, and until 2015 was destined to succeed King Abdullah and occupy the kingdom’s throne. Eventually, bin Nayef appointed Dr. al-Jabri as Minister of State and made him his most senior and trusted adviser on matters of security and intelligence.

But Dr. al-Jabri’s standing changed suddenly in 2015, when King Abdullah died and was succeeded by King Salman. Salman then quickly began to rely on his son, Mohammed bin Salman, who he eventually named as his successor. That meant that Dr. al-Jabri’s mentor and protector, Prince bin Nayef, was effectively usurped. Bin Salman abruptly fired Dr. al-Jabri in September of 2015. Less than two years later, bin Nayef was dismissed from his post as Minister of Interior and went under house arrest in Saudi Arabia’s coastal resort city of Jeddah. Fearing for his life, Dr. al-Jabri took his eldest son, Khalid, and escaped to Canada in the middle of the night. They remain there to this day.

In a 106-page lawsuit, filed in August with the United States District Court in Washington, DC, Dr. al-Jabri claims that bin Salman sent spies to conduct physical surveillance on him. The lawsuit also claims that bin Salman dispatched members of his “personal mercenary group”, known as the Tiger Squad, to Canada, in order to assassinate Dr. al-Jabri. The members of the squad allegedly arrived at Toronto’s Pearson International Airport sometime in mid-October 2018. The documents claim that the Tiger Squad members traveled to Canada just days after they were dispatched to Istanbul, Turkey, where they killed Saudi journalist Jamal al-Khashoggi. However, they were allegedly turned back by suspicious Canada Border Services Agency officers.

Dr. al-Jabri’s lawsuit relies on the 1991 Torture Victim Protection Act, which allows non-US citizens to file lawsuits in US courts for alleged human rights abuses that took place outside the US. But lawyers for the crown prince claim that he, along with his father, represent the top echelon of Saudi Arabia’s ruling family. As such, they claim, the crown prince is “entitled to status-based immunity from any suit in a US court”. Therefore, they argue, Dr. al-Jabri’s complaint “fails as a legal pleading”. The crown prince’s lawyers also accuse the plaintiff and his associates of having embezzled nearly $11 billion in funds belonging to the Saudi government.

► Author: Joseph Fitsanakis | Date: 09 December 2020 | Permalink

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Belgium says foreign spies have infiltrated its largest mosque

December 8, 2020 by Leave a comment

Vincent Van QuickenborneBELGIUM’S LARGEST MOSQUE has been infiltrated by Moroccan intelligence, according to the Belgian minister of justice, who allegedly consulted the country’s spy services in making that determination. The announcement has further-strained relations between the Belgian government and the country’s Muslims, which account for about 5% of the Belgian population.

Until recently, the Grand Mosque of Belgium had been operated by the Muslim World League (MWL), a Saudi Arabian missionary society that is primarily funded and controlled by Riyadh. The lease agreement was struck between the Saudi Arabia and Belgian governments in 1969. It stipulated that Saudi Arabia would supply Belgium with cheap oil, in return for the MWL operating the Grand Mosque without interference from the Belgian state. Since then, Saudi Arabia has been able to have a say in the selection of imams who preach at the mosque.

But the Belgian security services began to scrutinize the activities of the Grand Mosque following the 2016 Brussels bombings —three coordinated suicide attacks carried out by the Islamic State. The attacks killed 32 people and injured hundreds. Earlier this year, the Belgian government annulled the 1969 agreement with Saudi Arabia, claiming that the oil kingdom was using the mosque to spread the tenets of radical Wahhabi Islam. Belgian authorities said at the time that they would assume control over the Grand Mosque, in order to “terminate foreign interference in the teachings of Islam” in Belgium.

Last week, the Belgian government rejected an effort by the Grand Mosque to be officially recognized as a local community provider of faith services. The designation comes with substantial financial support from the Belgian state. Media reports suggested that the decision to deny the application was made by Belgium’s Minister of Justice, Vincent Van Quickenborne (pictured), following consultations with the country’s intelligence services. According to the reports, Belgium’s intelligence services have identified at least three members of the Grand Mosque’s clerical and administrative staff as members of the Moroccan intelligence services.

On Friday, the minister gave an interview to VRT Radio 1, Belgium’s Flemish-language public broadcaster, in which he justified his decision to turn down the mosque’s application. “I am unable to —and will not— accept that foreign agencies can hijack Islam for their own ideological and political goals”, said Van Quickenborne. He added that he saw it as his duty to stop those who attempt to “prevent Muslims in [Belgium] from developing their own progressive Islam”.

► Author: Joseph Fitsanakis | Date: 08 December 2020 | Permalink

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Canada thwarted plot to assassinate exiled Saudi former top spy, lawsuit alleges

August 7, 2020 by 2 Comments

Saad al-JabriCanadian border guards thwarted a sophisticated plot to kill a Saudi former senior intelligence official, who has been targeted by the oil kingdom’s crown prince because he served a rival member of the royal family, according to a lawsuit filed in an American court.

The target of the alleged assassination attempt is Dr. Saad al-Jabri, who rose through the ranks of the Saudi aristocracy in the 1990s, under the tutelage of his patron, Crown Prince Muhammad bin Nayef. Prince bin Nayef is the grandson of Saudi Arabia’s founding monarch, King Abdulaziz, and until 2015 was destined to succeed King Abdullah and occupy the kingdom’s throne. Eventually, bin Nayef appointed Dr. al-Jabri as Minister of State and made him his most senior and trusted adviser on matters of security and intelligence.

But Dr. al-Jabri’s standing changed suddenly in 2015, when King Abdullah died and was succeeded by King Salman. Salman then quickly began to rely on his son, Mohammed Bin Salman, who he eventually named as his successor. That meant that Dr. al-Jabri’s mentor and protector, Prince bin Nayef, was effectively usurped. Bin Salman abruptly fired Dr. al-Jabri in September of 2015. Less than two years later, bin Nayef was dismissed from his post as Minister of Interior and went under house arrest in Saudi Arabia’s coastal resort city of Jeddah. That was effectively a bloodless palace coup, which purged bin Nayef and everyone who was closely associated with him. Fearing for his life, Dr. al-Jabri took his eldest son, Khalid, and escaped to Canada in the middle of the night. They remain there to this day.

Now a new 106-page lawsuit (.pdf), filed yesterday with the United States District Court in Washington, DC, claims that bin Salman sent spies to conduct physical surveillance on at least one of Dr. al-Jabri’s properties in the US, in an effort to locate him. The lawsuit also claims that bin Salman dispatched members of his “personal mercenary group”, known as the Tiger Squad, to Canada, in order to assassinate Dr. al-Jabri. The members of the squad allegedly arrived at Toronto’s Pearson International Airport sometime in mid-October 2018. The documents claim that the Tiger Squad members traveled to Canada just days after they were dispatched to Istanbul, Turkey, where they killed Saudi journalist Jamal al-Khashoggi.

The lawsuit claims that the members of the assassination team attempted to enter Canada in small groups, using tourist visas, and did not declare their affiliation to the Saudi intelligence services. However, Canadian border guards became suspicious of the men, after realizing that they were part of a larger group. Prior to expelling them from Canada, Canadian border officials searched the men’s belongings and found “two bags of forensic tools”, according to the lawsuit. The suit further claims that the Tiger Squad included “forensic personnel experienced with the clean-up of crime scenes, including an instructor” who had links with “the forensic specialists who dismembered Khashoggi with a bone saw”.

The Saudi palace has made no comment about Dr. al-Jabri’s lawsuit. Earlier this year, Riyadh denied allegations of harassment by Dr. al-Jabri and his family, and claimed he is wanted in Saudi Arabia for financial discrepancies and corruption.

► Author: Joseph Fitsanakis | Date: 07 August 2020 | Permalink

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After dropping charges, US prosecutors broaden indictment against Saudi spies

July 30, 2020 by 4 Comments

TwitterTwo days after dropping charges against three Saudi men for spying on American soil, United States prosecutors submitted a new indictment that restates the two original charges and adds five more. The original complaint was filed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in November of last year in San Francisco, California. It accused three men of “acting as unregistered agents” of Saudi Arabia since 2015. The phrase is used in legal settings to refer to espionage.

According to the FBI, the Saudi government allegedly contacted Ali Alzabarah, a 35-year-old San Francisco-based network engineer working for Twitter. Ahmed Almutairi (also known as Ahmed Aljbreen), a “social media advisor” for Saudi Arabia’s royal family, arranged for Alzabarah to be flown to Washington to meet an unidentified member of the Saudi dynasty. He and another Twitter employee, 41-year-old Ahmad Abouammo, were allegedly given money and gifts by the Saudi government. These were given in return for the email addresses, IP addresses and dates of birth of up to 6,000 Twitter users who had posted negative comments about the Saudi royal family on social media.

Earlier this week, however, US government prosecutors filed a motion to drop the charges against the three men. The two-page filing did not offer a reason behind this sudden decision by the US government. Interestingly, however, it included a request to have the charges against the three men dismissed “without prejudice”, meaning that the US government could decide to file new charges against them in the future.

This has now happened, as the US government has filed fresh charges against the three men. In addition to the two original charges, the men have now been charged with acting as agents for a foreign government without notifying the US attorney general. They have also been charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, committing wire fraud and money laundering, aiding and abetting, and destroying, altering or falsifying records in a federal investigation. The indictment also specifies the financial rewards Abouammo allegedly received from the Saudi government in return for his services. These included a wire transfer for $200,000 to a shell company and associated bank account in Lebanon, as well as a luxury watch valued at $20,000.

► Author: Joseph Fitsanakis | Date: 30 July 2020 | Permalink

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Without explanation, US dismisses charges against Saudis caught spying on US soil

July 29, 2020 by 3 Comments

Twitter IAIn a surprising move, the United States government is seeking to dismiss espionage charges it filed last year against three men, including a member of staff of Saudi Arabia’s royal family, who were caught spying on American soil. Last November, the Federal Bureau of Investigation filed a complaint in San Francisco, accusing the three men of “acting as unregistered agents” of Saudi Arabia. The phrase is used in legal settings to refer to espionage.

According to the FBI, the charges stemmed from an investigation that lasted several years and centered on efforts by the oil kingdom to identify and silence its critics on social media. In 2015, the Saudi government allegedly reached out to Ali Alzabarah, a 35-year-old network engineer working for Twitter, who lived in San Francisco. The complaint alleges that Ahmed Almutairi (also known as Ahmed Aljbreen), who worked as a “social media advisor” for Saudi Arabia’s royal family, arranged for Alzabarah to be flown from San Francisco to Washington to meet with an unidentified member of the Saudi dynasty.

Alzabarah, along with another Twitter employee, 41-year-old Ahmad Abouammo, were allegedly given money and gifts by the Saudi government in return for supplying it with private information about specific Twitter users, according to the FBI complaint. The information provided by the two Twitter employees to the Saudi authorities allegedly included the email addresses, IP addresses and dates of birth of up to 6,000 Twitter users, who had posted negative comments about the Saudi royal family on social media. Special Agents from the FBI’s Settle field office arrested Abouammo at his Seattle home. However, Alzabarah managed to flee the United States along with his family before the FBI was able to arrest him, and is believed to be in Saudi Arabia. The FBI issued a warrant for his arrest.

In a surprising move, however, US government prosecutors have now filed a motion to drop the charges against the three men. The motion, filed on Tuesday in San Francisco, is asking for permission from the judge in the case to have all charges against the three men dismissed “without prejudice”, meaning that the US government could decide to file new charges against them in the future. The two-page filing does not offer a reason behind this sudden decision by the US government. The Bloomberg news service, which reported the news on Tuesday, said it inquired about this case by calling and emailing the Saudi Embassy in Washington, the San Francisco US Attorney’s office, and Twitter. It received no responses.

► Author: Ian Allen | Date: 29 July 2020 | Permalink

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Exiled former intelligence official says Saudi government abducted his children

May 27, 2020 by 3 Comments

Muhammad bin NayefA Saudi government official, who served as a senior advisor to the oil kingdom’s former Crown Prince, has accused the Saudi monarchy of abducting his children in order to force him to end his self-exile in Canada. With a doctorate in artificial intelligence from the University of Edinburgh, Dr. Saad al-Jabri was until 2015 a rare example of a highly educated government administrator among Saudi Arabia’s ruling elite. Dr. al-Jabri rose in the ranks of the Saudi aristocracy in the 1990s under the tutelage of his patron, Crown Prince Muhammad bin Nayef (pictured). Prince bin Nayef is the grandson of Saudi Arabia’s founding monarch, King Abdulaziz, and until 2015 was destined to succeed King Abdullah and occupy the kingdom’s throne. Eventually, bin Nayef appointed Dr. al-Jabri as Minister of State and made him his most senior and trusted adviser on matters of security and intelligence.

Western intelligence officials credit Dr. al-Jabri with transforming the Saudi security establishment in the 2000s, by introducing scientific methods in investigations, associated with digital forensics, data mining and other advanced techniques. Thanks to his British upbringing and education, Dr. al-Jabri operated with ease and comfort in Western capitals. He soon became the primary link between Saudi Arabia and the so-called “Five Eyes Alliance” —a longstanding intelligence-sharing agreement between the United States, Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Read more of this post

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Saudi Arabia may be abusing global phone tracking system to spy on dissidents

March 30, 2020 by 1 Comment

Saudi TelecomThe government of Saudi Arabia may be exploiting a decades-old tracking system embedded in the global mobile telecommu- nications network in order to spy on its citizens as they travel abroad, a report suggests. The report was published on Sunday in the British broadsheet The Guardian, based on documents provided by an anonymous whistle-blower.

The alleged documents may implicate Saudi Arabia’s three largest cellular telecommuni- cations service providers, said The Guardian, namely Mobily, Zain and Saudi Telecom. The anonymous whistle-blower told the paper that these companies were “weaponizing mobile technologies”, allegedly under the direction of Saudi Arabia’s ruling monarchy, which is notorious for suppressing political dissent within and outside the oil kingdom.

The alleged method of surveillance relies on SS7, a decades-old feature of the global cellular telecommunications system, which allows cellular providers to provide service to mobile phone users as they travel internationally. The SS7 system allows a mobile phone registered in a specific country to be used from a different country, and its user to be charged for the service. But to do so with accuracy, the SS7 system enables the service provider to track the owner of the device being charged for the phone call. This is done through what is known in cellular telecommunications parlance as a Provide Subscriber Location, or PSL, request.

According to The Guardian, Saudi cellular telecommunications providers have been making “excessive use” of PSLs in recent years. This indicates possible attempts to track the physical movements of Saudi cell mobile phone users who are traveling to the United States, and possibly other countries. The paper said that millions of PSLs were filed by Saudi Arabia in a one-month period in November of 2019. There is no telling how long this alleged surveillance operation has been going on, and in how many countries.

The paper also said that Ron Wyden, a Democratic senator from the US state of Oregon, who is a member of the Senate’s powerful Committee on Intelligence, has written to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) about the privacy vulnerabilities of the SS7 system. However, the FCC has taken no action on the matter.

► Author: Ian Allen | Date: 30 March 2020 | Permalink

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Bahrain accuses Iran of ‘biological aggression’ as COVID-19 stirs Gulf tensions

March 13, 2020 by Leave a comment

Tehran IranA senior Bahraini cabinet minister on Thursday accused the Iranian government of ‘biological aggression’ for spreading COVID-19 to several other countries in the Gulf, a claim that Iran promptly rejected. The allegation refers to Iran’s customary practice of not stamping the passport of visitors from some Sunni-majority nations.

The practice aims to shield visitors from perceived discrimination upon their return to their Sunni-majority home countries. Several Sunni Gulf states, including the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Bahrain, have either criminalized or openly discourage trips to Iran by their Shi’a citizens. The latter are often viewed as suspicious or disloyal by their own governments. However, many of them continue to travel regularly to Iran in order to visit some of Shi’a Islam’s most revered pilgrimage sites.

Thousands of Shi’a pilgrims from predominantly Sunni nations have been repatriated to their home countries following the outbreak of COVID-19, which is also known as coronavirus. Earlier this week, Bahrain announced that at least 77 of its citizens, who were recently repatriated from Iran on government-supplied airplanes, tested positive for the disease. However, many others returned home from Iran on their own and are hesitant to tell local authorities that they have traveled to Iran, fearing discrimination or —in some cases— imprisonment. Since the passports of these individuals are not stamped with Iranian entry visas, local authorities have no way of telling whether they have recently traveled to Iran.

On Thursday, Bahrain’s Minister of Interior, General Sheikh Rashid bin Abdulla al-Khalifa, condemned Iran on Twitter for its “behavior, [which] has allowed the disease to travel abroad and put in danger our safety and health and that of others”. General al-Khalifa added that Iran’s behavior constituted “a form of biological aggression that is criminalized under international law”. But Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs responded by rejecting the claim that the practice of not stamping passports was related to an intention by Tehran to spread the coronavirus to the Gulf region.

Bahrain’s accusation came less than a week after Saudi Arabia publicly chastised its citizens who have traveled to Iran and issued a reminder that traveling to Iran is considered a criminal act.

► Author: Joseph Fitsanakis | Date: 13 March 2020 | Permalink

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Denmark arrests three Iranian separatists for spying for Saudi Arabia

February 5, 2020 by Leave a comment

Finn Borch AndersenAuthorities in Denmark have announced the arrests of three Iranian Arab separatists, who are charged with carrying out espionage on behalf of the intelligence services of Saudi Arabia. The arrests were announced on Monday by the Danish Security and Intelligence Service, known as PET.

According to the PET, the three Iranians are members of a group calling itself the Arab Struggle Movement for the Liberation of Ahvaz (ASMLA). Known also as Al-Ahwaziya, the group was established in 1980. It calls for a separate state for ethnic Arabs who live the oil-rich province of Khuzestan, in Iran’s southwest.

PET director Finn Borch Andersen told reporters on Monday that the three Iranians were recruited in 2012 by the General Intelligence Presidency (GIP), Saudi Arabia’s primary intelligence agency. They allegedly spied on pro-Iranian groups and individuals in Denmark and other countries northern Europe on behalf of the GID. They reported regularly to their handler, who was an undercover intelligence officer at the Saudi embassy in Copenhagen, according to the PET.

In October 2018, one of the three Iranian men was targeted for assassination by Iranian intelligence, but Danish authorities managed to prevent it with an elaborate security operation. A Norwegian man of Iranian background was arrested during the operation and remains in detention in Denmark. Throughout that time, the PET continued to monitor the three Iranian separatists, and proceeded to arrest them this week.

Late on Monday, the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs summoned the Saudi ambassador to Copenhagen in order to file an official complaint about Saudi espionage activities on Danish soil. According to the Danish media, the ambassador of Denmark to Saudi Arabia contacted the oil kingdom’s government to protest about the incident.

► Author: Joseph Fitsanakis | Date: 05 February 2020 | Permalink

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Saudi king hosts CIA director a day after US charges two Saudis with espionage

November 8, 2019 by 2 Comments

Gina HaspelA day after the United States Department of Justice charged two Saudi citizens with engaging in espionage on American soil, Saudi officials hosted the director of the Central Intelligence Agency in Riyadh, reportedly to discuss “the longstanding Saudi-US partnership”.

According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, two Saudi men, both employees of the US-based company Twitter, were instructed by a member of the Saudi royal family to surrender the personal information of at least 6,000 Twitter users who posted criticism of the Saudi government on social media. As intelNews reported on Thursday, one of the men is under arrest, while the other managed to evade US authorities and is thought to be sheltered by the Saudi government.

It is believed that the member of the Saudi royal family who instructed the two men to carry out espionage was no other than Mohammed bin Salman, the oil kingdom’s crown prince. Wednesday’s developments marked the first time that US authorities have publicly filed espionage charges against Saudi nationals in America.

A day after the charges were filed in the US state of California, Gina Haspel, the director of the Central Intelligence Agency, was reportedly hosted by Saudi Arabia’s king Salman in Riyadh. In addition to Salman and Haspel, the meeting was attended by several senior Saudi officials, including Khalid al-Humaidan, who directs the kingdom’s General Intelligence Directorate. Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister, Prince Faisal bin Farhan, was also present at the meeting.

A tweet by the Saudi Arabian embassy in Washington said that the meeting between Haspel and the Saudi officials revolved around “the longstanding Saudi-US partnership”. It also said that participants discussed “a number of regional and international developments”, but gave no further information. The state-owned Saudi Press Agency said simply that the meeting focused on “a number of topics of mutual interest”, but did not elaborate.

► Author: Joseph Fitsanakis | Date: 08 November 2019 | Permalink

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FBI charges Twitter employees with working as spies for Saudi Arabia

November 7, 2019 by 1 Comment

TwitterUnited States authorities have charged two employees of the social media firm Twitter and a member of staff of Saudi Arabia’s royal family with spying for Riyadh. The Federal Bureau of Investigation filed a complaint on Wednesday in San Francisco, accusing the three men of “acting as unregistered agents” for Saudi Arabia. The phrase is used in legal settings to refer to espionage.

According to the FBI, the charges stem from an investigation that lasted several years and centered on efforts by the oil kingdom to identify and silence its critics on social media. In 2015, the Saudi government allegedly reached out to Ali Alzabarah, a 35-year-old network engineer working for Twitter, who lived in San Francisco. The complaint alleges that Ahmed Almutairi (also known as Ahmed Aljbreen), who worked as a “social media advisor” for Saudi Arabia’s royal family, arranged for Alzabarah to be flown from San Francisco to Washington to meet with an unidentified member of the Saudi dynasty.

Alzabarah, along with another Twitter employee, 41-year-old Ahmad Abouammo, were given money and gifts by the Saudi government in return for supplying it with private information about specific Twitter users, according to the complaint. The information provided by the two Twitter employees to the Saudi authorities allegedly included the email addresses, IP addresses and dates of birth of up to 6,000 Twitter users, who had posted negative comments about the Saudi royal family on social media.

Special Agents from the FBI’s Settle field office arrested Abouammo at his Seattle home on Tuesday. However, Alzabarah is believed to have fled the United States along with his family before the FBI was able to arrest him. He is currently believed to be in Saudi Arabia and is wanted by the FBI, which has issued a warrant for his arrest. The Saudi government has not commented on the case. Twitter issued a statement on Wednesday, saying it planned to continue to cooperate with the FBI on this investigation.

► Author: Joseph Fitsanakis | Date: 07 November 2019 | Permalink

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US and Saudi Arabia ‘suffered intelligence blackout’ during Iran drone strikes: sources

October 11, 2019 by 3 Comments

Saudi AramcoSaudi Arabia and the United States suffered “a total and embarrassing [intelligence] failure” in the lead-up to the drone strikes that shut down half of the kingdom’s oil production last month, according to Israeli sources. In the early hours of September 14, missiles struck two refineries belonging to the world’s largest crude oil processing facility in eastern Saudi Arabia. The facilities, which belong to Aramco, Saudi Arabia’s government-owned oil conglomerate, were forced to cease operation so that repairs could be carried out. This drastically reduced Saudi Arabia’s oil production by close to 50 percent, which amounted to a 5 percent drop in global oil production. By Monday morning, global oil prices had seen their most significant one-day surge since the 1991 Gulf War.

Soon after the attacks, Saudi and American officials accused Iran of having launched the missile strikes. But according to Breaking Defense, Riyadh and Washington suffered “a total and embarrassing [intelligence] failure” in the hours prior to and following the attacks. The US-based website cited a number of anonymous Israeli sources, who said that officials in Tel Aviv were surprised by the lack of intelligence in the US and Saudi Arabia about the missile strikes. The Israelis told Breaking Defense that Saudi intelligence agencies “had no idea Iran was planning to attack the kingdom’s oil facilities […]. It seems that the Americans were also in the dark [or that possibly] Washington […] did not share the data in time with the Saudis”, they added.

The above information was allegedly discussed at an emergency meeting of the Israeli defense cabinet on October 6, which included a briefing on the attacks by the Mossad, Israel’s main external intelligence agency. According to the Israeli sources, Mossad officials were quickly able state with high confidence that the missiles had been launched from military bases in southeast Iran or by Iranian militias in Iraq. It was only following an examination of missile fragments that Saudi and American intelligence officers were able to point the finger at Iran, according to Aahron Ze’evi Farkash, former director of the Israeli Military Intelligence Directorate.

Breaking Defense also said that Israeli intelligence analysts were impressed by the precision of the weapons systems used in the Iranian strikes. Additionally, the specific targets of the attacks were selected with the help of “very accurate intelligence”, said the Israeli sources.

► Author: Joseph Fitsanakis | Date: 11 October 2019 | Permalink

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