Family of alleged Jordanian spy in Syria says Syrian regime fabricated charges

While the Jordanian Iyad Yusuf al-Naeim made televised statements admitting to spying for Israel in Syria, his family accused the Syrian authorities of extracting the confessions by force.

In addition, his brothers charged that all the information in the confession was baseless.

The confessions made by al-Naeim are full of contradictions, and this demonstrates how unauthentic they are, said Mohamed al-Naeim, the older brother of al-Naeim.

“In the confessions, Iyad said he started working for the Mossad in 2005 when he took leave from his job in Jordan to attend his sister’s wedding in Hebron in the West Bank, while our sister’s wedding was in 2003,” he told the Jordanian newspaper al-Ghad, presenting documents that proved his statement.

Another false piece of information, Mohamed added, was when Iyad said he was in Jordan in 2005. The truth is, said his brother, he was working as a teacher in a Hebron school that year.

“Iyad went to Jordan in early 2006.”

Mohamed added that he possesses documents issued by the Palestinian Ministry of Detainee Affairs that prove his brother was never arrested or detained by Israeli forces.

“This proves that Iyad’s confession that he was forced to cooperate with the Mossad after he was subjected to brutal torture for three months in early 2006 is totally groundless.”

According to the paper, Mohamed also has documents that prove that Iyad was not capable of leaving Jordan between January 23, 2007 and July 23, 2007, because a lawsuit was filed against him during that time and he couldn’t leave before it was resolved.

“This contradicts Iyad’s statements that he went to Syria for his first spying mission in early 2007.”

According to Iyad’s younger brother, Ali al-Naeim, he and Iyad were arrested by Syrian security forces in Latakia and were taken to Damascus, where the pair were detained in solitary cells and subjected to torture.

“In the beginning, the officers interrogating us tried to charge us with moral offenses, but when they failed to do so, they accused my brother of collaborating with the Mossad,” Ali told al-Ghad newspaper.

Syrian state television broadcast on Saturday the alleged confessions of a Jordanian of Palestinian origin which detailed his collaboration with Mossad to spy on Syria.

According to the Syrian Arab News Agency, Iyad Yusuf al-Naeim confessed to working for Mossad and receiving training in Jerusalem. When arrested, the agency added, al-Naeim was collecting information on the city of Latakia, with special focus on the sectarian makeup of the city, living conditions, and the ships that set anchor in the ports of Latakia and Tartus and where they come from.

(Translated from Arabic by Sonia Farid)
URL: http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2011/09/21/167888.html