Will the European Judiciary Punish the UAE for Espionage Scandals against EU Citizens?

The United Arab Emirates, the primary opponent of the Arab revolutions, has surpassed its battle against the Muslim Brotherhood in the Arab region to embark on plotting schemes against Europeans opposed to its policies, despite posing no threat to its interests.

Under the title 'Abu Dhabi Secrets': Emirati spies targeted by French and Swiss courts, the French investigative website Mediapart published an extensive investigation on April 15, 2024, exposing Abu Dhabi's espionage on Europeans under the pretext of pursuing the Muslim Brotherhood.

Starting Point

The story traces back to 2017 when documents were uncovered in Belgium, followed by Switzerland and France, confirming Abu Dhabi's suspicious role in tarnishing the reputation of its policy opponents.

The case dates back to the UAE's activities between 2017 and 2020, collaborating with a Swiss company called Alp Services, specializing in private intelligence, to spy on thousands of Europeans, some of Arab origin, on behalf of the UAE intelligence.

The new development this time is the initiation of investigations by French and Swiss courts into the UAE and its agent, the head of the Swiss intelligence company, on charges of spying on European businessmen, political figures, and media personalities at the request of Abu Dhabi's intelligence.

Analysts emphasize the sensitivity of this issue, putting French President Emmanuel Macron in an awkward position due to his close and distinguished relationship with his Emirati counterpart, Mohammed bin Zayed.

Paris is linked to massive arms sales to the UAE, and Macron and bin Zayed play a joint role in combating the Islamic movement in Africa and the world.

It all began on August 7, 2017, in a luxury hotel in Abu Dhabi when Mario Brero, the head of the Swiss intelligence company Alp Services, arrived at the invitation of an Emirati intelligence agent named Sheikh Matar, according to the Lebanese website, Daraj Media which participated in the investigations of Abu Dhabi's Secrets on July 7, 2023.

At that time, an agreement was reached on a plan aimed at "mapping" and then "tarnishing the reputation" of Abu Dhabi's enemies by secretly disseminating "harmful information on a wide scale."

Later, Sheikh Matar introduced the Swiss to the Swiss intelligence company's CEO, Ali Saeed al-Neyadi, who was responsible for leading a local team tasked with "crisis and natural disaster management."

This "management" is, in fact, directly related to the "Supreme Council for National Security," the armed wing of Emirati special operations.

The first contract was signed in October 2017, amounting to 5.7 million euros, according to leaked documents between 2017 and 2020.

The amount was paid by an Emirati research center called Al-Aryaf, used as a cover for Emirati intelligence agencies.

The operations were named "Arnica" and "Crocus," after the famous Swiss mountain flowers, and the targets were Qatar and the Muslim Brotherhood.

The operations aimed to tarnish their reputation and destroy their credibility by spreading false information on a wide scale through a network of mercenary journalists, according to Abu Dhabi Secrets investigations.

On July 8, 2023, the Belgian network RTBF reported that an investigation was underway in Brussels and other European capitals, showing that Abu Dhabi was tracking European personalities and accusing them of being part of the Muslim Brotherhood.

Following the leakage of information from this Emirati network, Belgium summoned its ambassador to the UAE on the grounds of "Abu Dhabi's involvement in a defamation campaign against nearly 1000 individuals in Europe," as revealed by the Middle East Eye on July 9, 2023.

The Belgian network RTBF listed more than 1000 names targeted by the UAE campaign, including 160 Belgian personalities, prompting the Foreign Ministry to request a "full explanation and clarification" from the UAE ambassador in Brussels.

It turned out that the UAE was conducting a false propaganda campaign, labeling Muslims in European countries, including Belgium, France, Switzerland, and others, and also describing European officials as belonging to the Muslim Brotherhood, according to a European investigative report published under the title "Abu Dhabi Secrets."

The report was based on 78,000 secret documents obtained by Mediapart on July 14, 2023, and also broadcasted by the European Investigative Collaborations (EIC) network.

What's New?

The new revelation brought to light by the French investigative site Mediapart and EIC network is that three separate judicial investigations are underway in France and Switzerland against Mario Brero, the head of the Swiss intelligence company Alp Services, which was enlisted by the UAE for espionage and defamation.

The European judiciary has charged this Swiss company, and consequently Abu Dhabi, with handing over the names of approximately 1,400 Europeans and 400 European organizations to the UAE for persecution and defamation on the pretext of their affiliation with the Muslim Brotherhood or having connections to it.

It was revealed that the UAE compiled these names from 18 European countries, incorrectly categorizing many of their owners as sympathetic to the Muslim Brotherhood. This led to a series of lawsuits against the UAE by these individuals, further exposing the Emirati scandal.

The list of names sent to the UAE included French figures such as former presidential candidate Benoit Hamon and deputy mayor of Marseille Samia Ghali, in addition to the party La France Insoumise (radical left) and the National Center for Scientific Research, despite their lack of affiliation with the Muslim Brotherhood.

The campaign also targeted the Elysee Palace (French presidential palace) and the European Union, conducting influence operations and "reputation tarnishing" campaigns through fake articles and manipulation of some media outlets, as the Swiss agency owns a network of mercenary journalists!

For a financial sum of no less than 5.7 million euros, Abu Dhabi, through the Swiss agency, utilized all its capabilities to harm its adversaries, namely Qatar and the Muslim Brotherhood.

The investigative site Mediapart previously exposed the crimes of the UAE against its opponents and its purchase of espionage and monitoring devices for the benefit of Abdel Fattah el-Sisi's regime in Egypt. Consequently, Abu Dhabi falsely claimed that the site's correspondents were affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood.

This prompted Carine Fouteau, the head of Mediapart, and a journalist on the site, to sue the UAE in separate legal proceedings, as confirmed by Agence France-Presse on April 15, 2024.

Mediapart handed investigators an internal document from the espionage company Alp Services containing the names provided to the UAE for surveillance and defamation.

Among them is a document proving that the intelligence company Alp Services provided names and charts to its Emirati agent, Sheikh Matar, according to Mediapart.

According to the investigation Abu Dhabi Secrets, published on April 15, 2024, in partnership between the French Mediapart and the EIC network, the UAE will be prosecuted for several crimes through the intelligence company it hired.

The French and Swiss judicial investigations against the UAE, facilitated by the Swiss company, include charges of "illegal espionage for a foreign state," "defamation," and "money laundering."

These investigations are based on findings from March to July 2023 and onwards, revealed through nearly 13 European media and investigative outlets, including Mediapart, under the title "Abu Dhabi Secrets" on the EIC website.

Belgians, Swiss, French, Dutch, and Spanish individuals were targeted, most of whom were activists or Islamic researchers. Among them were 162 Spaniards falsely categorized by the UAE as Islamist extremists without evidence.

Several international newspapers, such as Der Spiegel (Germany), Le Soir (Belgium), De Standaard (Netherlands), Swiss Radio and Television, Svenska Dagbladet (Sweden), and others, have detailed the scandal.

Thousands of leaked documents from the Swiss intelligence company Alp Services were provided to European investigative authorities.

The UAE's role in defaming individuals and countries, including Qatar and the Muslim Brotherhood, through influence operations and defamation campaigns using "fake articles" published by "mercenary journalists" in European media outlets is under investigation.

European justice is also investigating accusations against the head of the Swiss company, Mario Brero, hired by the UAE, for other suspicious activities in France.