The exposure of what is alleged to be an underground smear campaign against Qatari-linked Islamic groups in Europe by the United Arab Emirates (UAE), using the services of a Swiss private intelligence agency, is causing diplomatic waves after it was uncovered by investigative journalists.
The so-called Abu Dhabi Secrets saga first surfaced when the left-wing French journal Mediapart obtained hacked documents alleging a vast UAE-financed influence operation to undermine Islamic groups in Europe motivated by regional rivalry against its fellow Gulf State, Qatar.
Beginning in 2017 amid a widening diplomatic spat between the UAE and Qatar, Emirati officials engaged the services of a private Swiss intelligence firm, Alp Services, to target Qatari-linked groups operating in Europe and associate them with the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood organisation through stories filtered through the press.
The names of approximately one thousand opponents of the UAE regime living in Europe were given to the Swiss agency to research and tailor hit pieces against them in a €5.7 million contract negotiated by the UAE intelligence services.
The campaign would often focus on dredging up tangential links between anti-UAE groups and individuals and the Muslim Brotherhood, a proscribed Islamist terror group that is known to have close ties to the Qatari government.
The influence operation occurred after a major 2017 diplomatic rift in the Gulf regarding Qatar’s support for Sunni militant groups, including the Muslim Brotherhood. After this, the UAE, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia cut ties with Qatar and implemented a partial economic blockade.
Traditionally, Gulf monarchies are hostile to Sunni radicalism, especially the Muslim Brotherhood, due to fears that Islamic populism could topple their regimes. The destruction of the Muslim Brotherhood is seen as a key goal of the UAE, which has cracked down hard on the group since the Arab Spring over a decade ago.
Alp Services, a Geneva-based firm specialising in “reputation management,” is run by veteran Swiss spy Mario Brero, who for decades has worked in the area of smear campaigns. Alp Services conducted its work for the UAE, using paid lobbyists, experts, and researchers to disseminate critical information to the media.
One of their targets, as reported in Der Spiegel, was Hazim Nada, the German-based businessman and son of an Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood leader, who saw his oil company collapse due to accusations spread by Alp Services that he was funding terrorism.
Also among the targeted individuals was the Belgian environment minister Zakia Khattabi. This led to the UAE ambassador to Brussels being questioned by the Belgian Ministry for Foreign Affairs.
One person involved in research for the UAE contract for Alp Services was George Washington University academic Dr. Lorenzo Vidino, who specialises in countering Islamic extremism and who defended his work with Alp Services in a conversation with The European Conservative.
According to Dr Vidino, his actions merely unearthed Qatari links to extremism that already existed. He said that the problem of Muslim Brotherhood-backed extremism existed with or without the controversy.
A loose network of Islamists associated with the Muslim Brotherhood has been operational for almost a century. In recent years, individuals associated with the organisations have been accused of infiltrating European political institutions, including the EU Parliament, through numerous front NGOs in the hope of laying the groundwork for a future Islamic takeover.
The accusations of the UAE-funded hit jobs come amid greater scrutiny of foreign influence operations in Europe in light of the Qatargate revelations. Alp Services did not respond to inquiries from The European Conservative regarding its relationship with the UAE.
