Georgia on Thursday arrested four news photographers, including President Mikheil Saakashvili’s personal photographer, on accusations of spying for a foreign country, the interior ministry said.
“The arrested are accused of passing information that they obtained because of their work to an organisation acting undercover for the intelligence services of a foreign country, against the interests of Georgia,” it said.
The four detained included Saakashvili’s personal photographer Irakli Gedenidze, the statement said. Gedenidze has taken a large number of pictures printed in the international media of Saakashvili.
“Very serious charges will be put forward,” Deputy Interior Minister Eka Zguladze told AFP, saying that the investigation into the alleged espionage was still under way.
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By Robert Merkel on July 5, 2011
Bernard Keane at Crikey – and, disappointingly, few others – have noted the Greens’ irresponsible and outrageous questioning of why ASIO should get a massively expanded remit without any serious attempt at justification. How unserious of them to suggest that when spies get additional powers, a reason should be provided! It’s the next generation of fairies at the bottom of the garden!
Apparently, ASIO’s role in economic espionage and counter-espionage is to be stretched so broadly that the catch-all of “national security” can no longer always be applied:
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A reader’s estranged husband told her he’s spying on her email. Could this be true?
It’s possible, but unlikely. And if he’s doing it, it’s almost certainly illegal.
My hunch is that he’s lying in order to mess with your head. After all, it’s much easier to tell someone that you’re spying on them then to actually do it. And it doesn’t carry the same legal ramifications.
Besides, if he was really spying on you, why would he tell you? Doing so would likely make you more careful about what you do online, get you to take steps to block his surveillance, and possibly get him arrested.
But what if he really is spying on you? After all, you want to be sure. Read More
An Australian citizen has faced an Israeli court charged with spying for Hamas, the Islamist group which rules the Gaza Strip.
Eyad Abu Arja was arrested along with his wife when he arrived at Tel Aviv airport in March, and has been in custody ever since.
Israeli intelligence officials allege the electronics engineer was recruited by Hamas while living in Saudi Arabia, and received weapons training in Syria before making a trip to Israel.
They accuse him of trying to enter Israel on his Australian passport in order to conduct spy operations.
Hamas is banned in Israel.
In court, the 46-year-old said he was an innocent Australian tourist and denied ever having trained in Syria.
A detailed indictment alleges he had links to the Palestinian struggle since the 1980s, but that from around 2007, he began attending a number of secretive meetings with Hamas members.
The indictment also claims he was asked to help with encoding, that he supplied photographic equipment which could find and guide missiles, and that he trained with Hamas in Syria.
“The accused was taken to a room with prayer rugs where he met four others,” the indictment says.
“After a while they went out and began to train, shooting a pistol and a rifle at different targets. After they finished he was driven back to Damascus. He was blindfolded some of the way.”
The indictment is so detailed as to describe the colours of the car he travelled in and blindfold he was given.
His lawyer, Leah Tzemel, told AM all the evidence comes from interviews with her client which has not been corroborated with outside sources.
Abu Arja is a Palestinian refugee who grew up on the Arabian Gulf but later moved to Australia and became an Australian citizen.
As he waited for the hearing to begin, Abu Arja told the media at the court near Tel Aviv he had never trained in Syria.
“I’d like to say loud and clear that I’m not a member of Hamas, never was and never will, or any other group,” he said.
Abu Arja had been living in Saudi Arabia, until he was arrested on arrival at Ben Gurion Airport earlier this year.
He says he was visiting Israel for a holiday.
“I am an Australian tourist, who came to this country with my wife to celebrate our 25th anniversary of our marriage, and ended up in jail,” he said.
Abu Arja’s wife and children have now returned to Australia.
He told the media he had been treated well while in jail.
But his lawyer says if an acceptable plea bargain is not reached, she will release more information about the facts of his interrogation.
The matter has been adjourned for a fortnight.
LONDON (Reuters) – Britain should not be “squeamish” about using espionage to protect its financial security, especially at times of economic crisis, a former spy chief said on Tuesday.
Richard Dearlove, chief of the Secret Intelligence Service from 1999 to 2004, said in a rare public speech that the Euro zone debt crisis and the possible harm it might do to Britain’s economy could be a subject for espionage, along with other emerging threats such as migration and organised crime.
In a speech exploring changing British intelligence priorities a decade after the September 11 attacks on U.S. targets, he said that while efficient UK central bankers should be able to handle economic turbulence “they might need help from time to time” on matters such as the Euro crisis.
“We should not be squeamish about using all the means at our disposal to protect ourselves in times of crisis,” he said. He added, in answer to questions: “I was thinking of currency issues.”
He noted that part of the mandate of SIS, also known as MI6, was to act in the interests of Britain’s economic wellbeing.
In a speech in October 2010, current SIS chief John Sawers made only a brief reference to economic spying when he said his staff had the task of gathering “long range strategic intelligence to track military and economic power…”
Dearlove said there was probably a role for British intelligence in tackling the illegal trafficking of toxic waste as well as in cyber security, migration and organised crime.
Counter-terrorism remained very important but it was possible al Qaeda was now “past its zenith.”
Russia and China would remain areas of interest for SIS because their decision-making processes “should be more transparent” and insight was needed on how they developed policies.
In China, there was more to understand about the relationship between civilian and military authorities.
While much of this work could be achieved by effective diplomacy, there had been a loss over the years of some of the previously “phenomenal” linguistic and general knowledge in the Foreign Office (Foreign Ministry).
This was “a great shame.” It was not realistic to expect Britain’s intelligence capacity to make up for this loss.
Britain’s coalition government has said it is determined that there would be no strategic shrinkage of Britain’s diplomatic influence overseas.
In May it said it planned to open new diplomatic missions in developing nations in a drive to boost influence in fast-growing emerging economies, while cutting costs in Europe.
(Reporting by William Maclean)
