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Sammanställning 23 september 2008

Exempel på debatten om Marockos spioneri och underrättelseverksamhet inom EU finns i följande sammanställning:


Immigrant Moroccan policeman spied for Morocco

(16.09.08 Volkskrant [The Netherlands],
18.09.08 Radio Netherlands International [The Netherlands],
19.09.08 Poligazette [The Netherlands], AP [USA], AFP [France])

A Moroccan immigrant was caught spying for the Moroccan secret service in the Netherlands. The immigrant was a policeman. The Dutch secret service found out about the immigrant’s spying activities after an anonymous source tipped them off. An investigation was launched and it quickly found that the anonymous source was correct; the Moroccan-Dutch, for he had a Dutch passport as well as a Moroccan one, gave sensitive information to his bosses back in Morocco. A diplomatic row has ensued. Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs Verhagen told two leading Moroccan diplomats to leave. The ambassador, however, is allowed to stay - for now. Verhagen informed Moroccan authorities that he will not accept such “harmful” practices.

The policeman was working in the region Rotterdam-Rijnmond. After investigators found him guilty he was dishonorable discharged or, aliteral translation, ‘punish-fired.’

Rotterdam municipality member Fouad el Haji - also a Moroccan-Dutchman - said that this was certainly not the first or only time the Moroccan government tried to get Moroccan immigrants in the Netherlands to work for it. Moroccan authories would try to pursuade immigrants to work for them through a variety of networks, he said. One of the double-passport carrying Moroccan-Dutchman approached by the Moroccan secret service was Ali Lazrak, former MP. When asked about it by Dutch reporters Lazrak was not available for comment.

Dutch Parliament is concerned about the influence of the Moroccan government over immigrants. It will debate about the matter in an emergency debate next week. “Establishing relations with emigrants is fine, of course. But if the secret service” is establishing said relations “we can’t speak about freedom anymore,” Christian Democrat MP Madeleine van Toorenburg said. PVV-leader Geert Wilders believes that sending two diplomats away isn’t enough. He also wants the Dutch government to tell the Moroccan ambassador to leave. He used the controversy to once again make his point that immigrants should not be allowed to have two passports; he wants them to choose. The policeman himself, meanwhile, was dishonorably discharged and that seemed to br the end of it. Now, however, Dutch prosecutors have decided to go to court as well. The Dutch cabinet said yesterday that the suspect may lose his Dutch nationality.

Moroccan immigrants do not have a choice whether or not they want to lose their old passport. Moroccan laws make it impossible for one to lose the Moroccan identity. Even if such immigrants would want it, then, they would not be able to get rid of it. Dutch politicians have long since talked about these immigrants; of all the immigrants in the Netherlands, Moroccans are the least well integrated, the most likely to commit crimes, and the most dismissive of Dutch values.

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http://www.nisnews.nl/public/190908_1.htm

'Moroccan Secret Service Recruits Dutch MPs'

AMSTERDAM, 19/09/08 - MPs and local council members of Moroccan origin are routinely approached by the Moroccan secret service to defend the interests of Morocco. So says Fouad el Haji, a Labour (PvdA) council member in Rotterdam. The Lower House is shocked and has demanded an explanation from the cabinet.

El Haji said on n TV programme Pauw&Witteman that Moroccan-Dutch MPs, local politicians, entrepreneurs and police officers are enticed by the Moroccan secret service to serve the interests of Morocco. Rabat wants to bind them to it financially, culturally and politically, he stated.

El Haji suggested that within the PvdA, Socialist Party (SP) and leftwing Greens (GroenLinks), there are polticians who have taken up the offer and thus work for the secret service. He suggested one or several MPs or ex-MPs are among them. But he declined to name any names.

El Haji said he himself was also approached. "It is a pattern," he explained. "You are invited to gala parties and treated with all attentions. Before you know it, you are on a plane to Morocco. When you visit Morocco, you are even more cosseted."

'Ordinary' Moroccans are also targeted, El Haji continued. For example, they are urged to use their savings to buy a second house in Morocco. The integration process is thereby deliberately frustrated, according to El Haji.

This week, TV programme NOVA revealed that a Rotterdam policeman, Re Lemhaouli, was a spy for the Moroccan secret service. This was discovered last spring, but hushed up by the Dutch authorities, according to NOVA. Now that the case has come out in the open, the criminal investigation service has launched an investigation after all.

At the request of the Christian democrats (CDA), the House will hold an emergency debate on the question next week. The cabinet will send a letter ahead of this. If El Haji's allegations are true, this is "extremely serious," said CDA MP Sybrand van Haersma Buma yesterday.

Party for Freedom (PVV) leader Geert Wilders wants the cabinet to go into El Haij's suggestion that one or more MPs have or have had contacts with the secret service. GroenLinks leader Femke Halsema said any pressure on Moroccan Dutch is "unacceptable."

Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen said he had spoken with the Moroccan authorities about the Lemhaouli question. As a result of that conversation, the Moroccan embassy recalled two diplomats to Rabat, he revealed yesterday.

Verhagen denied that he had formally summoned the ambassador. Nor would he confirm that the two diplomats were removed at his insistence. But he did say that he has made it clear to Morocco the Netherlands is "ill served by the vile practices" that surfaced regarding Lemhaouli.

Verhagen is assuming that Morocco will from now on "refrain from these types of practices." He declined to speculate on possible consequences for relations between the Netherlands and Morocco.

Wilders said Verhagen should deport the Moroccan ambassador. The PVV leader also claimed yesterday that the question shows he was right when he warned last year that the dual nationality of important officials, including cabinet members, could cause loyalty problems. Virtually the entire Lower House at the time booed down that view.

Social Affairs State Secretary Ahmed Aboutaleb and Justice State Secretary Nebahat Albayrak have a Moroccan and Turkish passport respectively as well as a Dutch one. Aboutaleb said yesterday he has never been approached to carry out work in the Netherlands on behalf of Morocco.

The Netherlands has already been unsuccessfully negotiating with Rabat for years on the question of the double nationality all Moroccans have in the Netherlands. Even Moroccan couples who are both born in the Netherlands and want to be Dutch only receive Moroccan nationality, also for their offspring.

Like the PVV, the conservatives (VVD) did not mince words about Moroccans in the Netherlands who allow themselves to be influenced by Rabat. "They have two passports. If they think their future lies in Morocco, then they must clear off there as quickly as possible," said VVD MP Fred Teeven.

The VVD wants to know why the Public Prosecutor's Office (OM) has only taken action after the Lemhaouli case became public. In the first instance, the OM decided not to prosecute him. Socailist Party (MP) Jan de Wit also called the spying practices "inadmissible."

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Netherlands' FM Verhagen to bring up spy affair with Morocco in UN
(19.09.08 NRC Handelsblad [The Netherlands])

Foreign Minister Verhagen (CDA [Christian Democratic Appeal]) has described the Moroccan espionage affair as "exceptionally high up."

Next week he will be raising the subject with his Moroccan opposite number at the UN General Assembly in New York, which he will also be attending. Verhagen says that he has asked the Moroccan authorities "to refrain from such activities in future." As a result of the affair, in which a Rotterdam police officer of Moroccan origin was suspected of spying activities for Morocco, two diplomats employed at the Moroccan Embassy left the Netherlands earlier this year. The official reason given was that the two diplomats had been recalled home. Next week the Second Chamber will be holding an emergency debate on the matter. This will be on the basis of a letter from the cabinet that will give more details about exactly what happened in Rotterdam.

As a rule, the least possible attention is given to espionage disputes. The Moroccan Embassy officials left the Netherlands two months ago already. But this week the story became public following a Nova [current affairs TV program] program. It concerns a Rotterdam brigadier who is alleged to have collected information for the Moroccan Government. Following a tip-off from the AIVD [General Information and Security Service] he was placed on non-active service. Despite an earlier decision to the contrary, the Criminal Investigation Department has set up an inquiry into the individual in question. After his dismissal from the police he was employed at Rotterdam Airport, from which he has since been granted special leave. In answer to questions from PVV [Party for Freedom] lawmaker Wilders, Prime Minister Balkenende said that he was not employed in a position involving confidentiality. In the past there was also question of a sensitive diplomatic relationship between the Netherlands and Morocco. At that time it involved infiltration by the Moroccans into immigrantworker circles.

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Avslutningsvis en fransk språkövning, från den politiska satirtidningen Bakchich om Marockos insatser för att värva två franska parlamentarier. Se http://www.bakchich.info/article4823.html för att njuta även av karikatyrteckningarna.

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Maroc : Le Royaume enchante deux élus français
Lobbying / lundi 1er septembre par Catherine Graciet

« Bakchich » a mis la main sur des courriers confidentiels rédigés par l’ambassadeur du Maroc en France. Surprise ! Il y demande aux consuls généraux du royaume de militer activement auprès des députés et sénateurs français pour qu’ils soutiennent les thèses marocaines sur le Sahara Occidental. Deux d’entre eux, membres de l’UMP, ont mordu à l’hameçon…

C’est bien connu : le royaume enchanté du Maroc ne plaisante pas avec le conflit du Sahara occidental qui l’oppose depuis 1975 au Front Polisario, un mouvement indépendantiste soutenu par l’Algérie. Situés en première ligne depuis le cessez-le-feu de 1991, les diplomates du roi Mohammed VI ne lésinent pas sur les moyens pour faire rallier aux thèses marocaines sur le Sahara occidental des pays étrangers. A savoir, faire valider par les Nations Unies et la communauté internationale l’annexion de ce territoire désertique au royaume chérifien.

C’est notamment le cas de l’ambassadeur du Maroc en France, le discret Fathallah Sijilmassi. Le 6 février 2008 (cf doc 2), l’Excellence se fend en toute confidentialité d’un courrier alarmiste aux consuls généraux du Maroc en France. Son sang n’a visiblement fait qu’un tour lorsqu’il a appris que le député communiste de Seine-Maritime Jean-Paul Lecoq organise des réunions et milite au Parlement pour y créer un « groupe d’étude » sur le Sahara occidental. Pour l’ambassadeur, pas de doute, cette initiative doit être tuée dans l’œuf ! « Il est à souligner que cette rencontre vise la création au sein de l’Assemblée Nationale d’un « groupe d’étude » sur le Sahara, dont la finalité est d’en faire un instrument pro-polisario », écrit-il à ses consuls. Autant dire un crime de lèse-Maroc… « Je vous serais gré de bien vouloir entreprendre, dans les plus brefs délais, les démarches nécessaires auprès de l’ensemble des Députés de votre région, afin de les sensibiliser sur la nécessité de ne pas cautionner la création d’un tel groupe d’étude et de contrecarrer cette initiative particulièrement hostile aux efforts actuellement menés par le Maroc et les Nations Unies pour un règlement définitif du différend sur le Sahara », poursuit l’ambassadeur qui s’offre même le luxe de dispenser des conseils pratiques à ses hommes. « Je vous prie de bien vouloir mettre à profit la présence sur le terrain des Députés-maires, actuellement en pleine campagne des municipales », écrit-il. A l’époque, la France était en effet à un mois du premier tour des élections municipales organisées en mars dernier.

Deux députés UMP mordent à l’hameçon marocain

Visiblement, le courrier de Fathallah Sijilmassi a porté ses fruits. Quatre mois plus tard, le 4 juin 2008, l’ambassadeur se fend d’un second courrier aux consuls généraux où il les félicite. Et pour cause ! Deux politiques français — Jean Roatta, député UMP de Marseille et président du groupe d’amitié France-Maroc à l’Assemblée Nationale ainsi que Paulette Brisepierre, sénatrice UMP des Français à l’étranger et présidente du groupe d’amitié France-Maroc au Sénat — ont mordu à l’hameçon marocain. Selon l’ambassadeur, ils ont aimablement envoyé une lettre « à l’ensemble des membres des groupes d’amitié France-Maroc aux deux Chambres » soutenant le royaume enchanté. Bakchich a récupéré un exemplaire de la missive rédigée par Jean Roatta. En date du 29 mai 2008, le député y donne du « Cher ami » à ses confrères et ne mets pas de gants pour défendre le Maroc : « Vous trouverez en pièce jointe une note explicative de la démarche marocaine qui, je l’espère recueillera votre assentiment. Vous pouvez témoigner de votre soutien à cette proposition en retournant le coupon-réponse ci-joint ». Rien que cela !

Difficile de savoir si nos deux politiques tricolores ont fait des émules parmi leurs congénères. Ils ont en tout cas fait le bonheur de Fathallah Sijilmassi qui nourrit du coup de grandes ambitions pour les politiques français. « Afin de donner l’ampleur politique la plus importante à cette initiative, je vous saurais gré de bien vouloir entreprendre les démarches nécessaires auprès des Députés et Sénateurs de votre circonscription afin de les inciter à être co-signataires des lettres de Monsieur Roatta et Madame Brisepierre », écrivait-il, la plume alerte, à ses consuls le 4 juin dernier. Si l’entrisme est une pratique vieille comme le monde et le lobbying sur le Sahara occidental une spécialité du royaume enchanté du Maroc, il n’en reste pas moins que l’ambassadeur marocain opte pour la discrétion. On ne sait jamais et il convient de protéger les amis du royaume… Ainsi pouvait-on lire dans sa prose du 4 juin : « Il est évident que la démarche faite concernant les lettres de Monsieur Roatta et Madame Brisepierre doit se faire de la manière la plus subtile possible car la réussite de cette opération repose essentiellement sur le fait qu’il s’agit d’une initiative interne aux institutions législatives françaises et qu’il ne conviendrait pas de donner l’impression d’imposer ou d’i