20-10-2020
ISTANBUL: A Jordanian national posing as a journalist received more than $400,000 to provide Emirati intelligence officers with details about Arab dissidents living in Turkey.
During an 11-year-long espionage career, Jordanian national Mahmoud Ayesh Al Astal posed as a journalist to obtain information about Turkish domestic and foreign politics and passed it on to handlers in the United Arab Emirate (UAE).
‘Financial pressure ’The Emiratis recruited Astal using a mixture of financial pressure and threats to withdraw his right to work in the UAE. After initial reluctance to work for the Emirati intelligence agency, his work visa application was denied, leaving him unable to work.
Astal is said to have relented under the pressure because of his fear of returning to Jordan, where he would have found it difficult to find employment. Before he moved to Turkey, he was based in the UAE spying on members of the Muslim Brotherhood, reporting back to his handlers in monthly phone calls.
His cooperation led to him being granted a residency visa to stay in the UAE. Part of his activities included providing the Emiratis with the floor plans for the Hewar Center, a think tank with which the Jordanian was associated, as well as delivering computers from the organization’s offices to the intelligence officers under the pretext of having them repaired.
When the UAE launched a crackdown on members of the Muslim Brotherhood in 2012 and a number of those affiliated with the group fled to Turkey, Astal was ordered to relocate to the country; initially renting a place in the city of Istanbul. His targets included Brotherhood members, such as Saeed Naser Alteneiji. In meetings with the individuals, he made recordings of conversations that were passed on to the Emiratis.
Astal also provided information about Turkey, as and when needed. Contact with his handlers took place over the phone, through encrypted mobile applications, and in face-to-face meetings in shopping malls. Turkish authorities say that the UAE has long been conducting espionage operations in the country, targeting both local authorities, as well as dissidents who have fled repressive regimes in the Arab world.
Ankara arrested two men in 2019, who are believed to have worked for the UAE and were associated with the brutal murder of the dissident Jamal Khashoggi by Saudi agents in Istanbul in October 2018. (Int’l Monitoring Desk)