UAE name 11 European suspects in murder of Hamas leader - Summary

Dubai/London - Police in the United Arab Emirates have named 11 Europeans as suspects in the murder of a Hamas leader in Dubai last month, the regional daily al-Sharq al-Awsat reported on Tuesday. Mahmoud Abdel-Raouf Mohammed Hassan, also known as Mahmoud al- Mahbouh, 50, was found dead in his hotel room on January 20, a day after arriving in Dubai. He was one of the founders of the Islamist Palestinian group's military wing, the al-Qassam Brigades.

The group accused of his murder is comprised of three Irish, six British, one French and one German citizen, according to the report.

However, the British Foreign Office in London said Tuesday that the six British passports were "fraudulent."

The Irish Department of Foreign Affairs in Dublin said the authorities there had "issued no passports" in the names of the three people using Irish identities.

Dubai's police chief Lieutenant Colonel Dhafi Khalfan Tamim said the identities of the suspects had been passed to Interpol, so that international warrants for their arrest may be issued.

Two Palestinians suspected of involvement in the murder have been arrested.

Tamim said four teams formed by the group had constantly shadowed al-Mahbouh after he landed in Dubai.

A fifth team, comprised of four group members, was responsible for entering al-Mahbouh's hotel room and killing him, Tamim said.

At a press conference Monday night, police showed security camera footage showing members of the group arriving at al-Mahbouh's hotel.

Tamim previously implicated the Mossad, Israel's intelligence agency, in the murder.

Hamas member Ezzat al-Rishq had also accused Israel of killing al- Mabhouh, saying the al-Qassam Brigades would respond to this "criminal assassination" in the right place and time.

Al-Mabhouh had been living in Syria since the late 1980s, along with several of the group's senior officials.

In Amman, the Jordanian government Tuesday confirmed that it had extradited two Palestinians to the UAE as suspects in the murder.

"We handed over two men holding Palestinian nationality over the past few days to the UAE authorities," Minister of State for Media Affairs Nabil Sharif said in a statement.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/309558,uae-name-11-european-suspects-in-murder-of-hamas-leader.html.