EU to protest over use of fake passports for Hamas killing

Brussels - The European Union is set to issue a declaration condemning the use of forged passports from the bloc's member countries by the perpetrators of the murder of a top Hamas official in Dubai, the Spanish foreign minister said on Monday. Eleven fake passports from Britain, Ireland, Germany and France were used by the alleged killers of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh on January 20, in Dubai, provoking expressions of outrage from the EU countries concerned.

"We are extremely concerned that European passports, which are a very rigorous and legal document, can be used in a different manner purpose.

"I hope we'll issue a statement expressing our concern at this situation," said Miguel Angel Moratinos, whose country holds the EU presidency, before a meeting of the bloc's foreign ministers in Brussels.

Moratinos said he would raise the matter with his Israeli counterpart, Avigdor Lieberman, who is currently visiting Brussels. Lieberman is also due to meet his British and Irish colleagues, David Miliband and Michael Martin.

Dubai authorities said they were "99 per-cent certain" that Israel's secret service, Mossad, was responsible for the assassination, but the Israeli government said it was "not correct to assume" so.

Luxembourg's foreign minister, Jean Asselborn, also condemned the extrajudicial killing of al-Mabhouh, but stopped short of pointing the finger against Israel.

"These are methods which don't belong to this century ... I can say as little as most people about who was behind it and what their objectives were," he said.

Source: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/310541,eu-to-protest-over-use-of-fake-passports-for-hamas-killing.html.