The UAE mercenary operation against Anas Altikriti follows the Israeli apartheid playbook

​

• An ITV News investigation has revealed that the UAE funded a covert surveillance operation against Anas Altikriti, chief executive of the Cordoba Foundation, in London in December 2016
• The operation was run by mercenary Abraham Golan and his firm Spear Operations Group, previously linked to UAE-funded assassination operations against political figures in Yemen
• A participant in the operation has told ITV that a throat-cutting gesture was made in relation to the plan, and that he understood its purpose to be the physical elimination of Mr Altikriti
• Mr Altikriti was issued an Osman Notice by the Metropolitan Police at the time, warning him his life was at risk, without further explanation
• The Cordoba Foundation was placed on a UAE list of proscribed "terrorist" organisations in 2014, a designation with no legal basis and never adopted by the UK government
• The Cordoba Foundation is calling for a full independent investigation, for the Metropolitan Police to clarify the basis of the 2016 Osman Notice, and for the government to account for its relationship with the UAE in light of these findings

London — We stand in solidarity with Anas Altikriti and the Cordoba Foundation. The investigation has evidenced what many have suspected as regards the UAE a foreign state funding a covert alleged assassination operation against a British citizen on British soil. 

We echo the calls made by the Cordoba Foundation: for a full and independent investigation into what UK authorities knew and when, for the Metropolitan Police to clarify the basis of the Osman Notice in light of this reporting, and for the government to explain how deepening ties with the UAE sits alongside credible allegations that it targeted a British citizen for elimination on British soil.

Proscription and terrorism designation have never been neutral, evidence-based processes - they are political instruments, and the "terrorist" label has always travelled faster than any evidence for it. The designation renders an individual not only liable to have their assets frozen and travel restricted but also assassination. Thus far, such actions have been admitted and legal sanctioned in war zones and by the use of drones - the exception is the rogue apartheid state of Israel and its Mossad hit teams.

The UAE seeks to emulate its close ally, Israel. It is therefore no surprise that it turned to an individual from the Israeli killing machine who sells his services on the open market to the highest bidder.

It has long been the policy of the UAE to infect British society with allegations of Islamic extremism against activists - its main target being the Muslim Brotherhood. Frustrated by the lack of action, evidenced by the government's own 2015 review finding no evidence that the Muslim Brotherhood was involved in terrorism - the UAE decided to take action into its own hands . The question now is whether the UK government will now black list the UAE as a rogue state  like Russia following the Salisbury poisoning of Sergei Skripal.

The war on terror has long been a game of double standards - there is every likelihood that the UAE will enjoy the unlimited protection afforded to the apartheid Israeli state , which is allowed to breach international norms with impunity and at will. This egregious and shocking plot will no doubt be labelled as yet another “false grievance” claimed by the Muslim minority community in the U.K.

Anas Mustapha, Head of Public Advocacy at CAGE International, said:

“What's been exposed here is the continuation of the logic of the War on Terror, except this time the operator is a Gulf ally rather than Washington or London directly. If a state can allegedly fund a plan to eliminate a British citizen on British soil and still be welcomed as a strategic partner, the question isn't just what the UAE has done. It's what the UK has been willing to overlook."

[ENDS]