Channels

Dubai police present footage of 'assassins'
Photo: Reuters
Al-Mabhouh's corpse
Photo: Reuters

Ireland says passports used in Dubai fake

Melvyn Adam Mildiner from Jerusalem says he 'awoke to a world of fun' after seeing his name linked to death of Hamas man in Dubai. Meanwhile, Ireland declares passports used by alleged assassins were counterfeit

A man in Israel with the same name as an alleged member of a hit squad that assassinated a top Hamas militant in Dubai said on Tuesday he was "angry, upset and scared" over what he called a misidentification.

 

Meanwhile Ireland's Department of Foreign Affairs said three alleged Irish citizens that Dubai authorities claim helped with the assassination do not exist.

 

Dubai police listed "Melvyn Adam Mildiner", a British national, as one of 11 Europeans suspected of killing Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in a luxury hotel in the Gulf emirate last month.

 

Speaking in British-accented English, Melvyn Adam Mildiner, resident of a town near Jerusalem, told Reuters he had nothing to do with the assassination and had never been to Dubai.

 

"I woke up this morning to a world of fun," he said in a sarcastic tone, after Israeli newspapers splashed names and photos of the suspects distributed by Dubai.

 

"I am obviously angry, upset and scared - any number of things. And I'm looking into what I can do to try to sort things out and clear my name," he said in a telephone interview.

 

"I don't know how this happened or who chose my name or why, but hopefully we'll find out soon."

 

A photo of "Melvyn Adam Mildiner" released by police in Dubai did not match a picture of the Israel-based Mildiner on his Twitter social networking page, though it had some similar features.

 

"It's not me. Which is one silver lining on this entire story because at least I can point to it and say, 'Look, that's not me. It's not the picture that I have in my passport, and it's not the picture that I have on my face that I walk around with every day', Mildiner said.

 

"I have my passport. It is in my house, along with the passports of everybody else in my family, and there's no Dubai stamps in it because I've never been to Dubai," he said.

 

Acknowledging that his name was uncommon, Mildiner said: "There's probably not many of us."

 

Photos of alleged killers released by Dubai police (Photo: AFP)

 

Meanwhile Ireland announced that the trio of alleged Irish passport-holders identified Monday in Dubai as Gail Folliard, Evan Dennings and Kevin Daveron do not appear in Ireland's records of legitimate passport-holders.

 

"We are unable to identify any of those three individuals as being genuine Irish citizens. Ireland has issued no passports in those names," the department said in a statement to The Associated Press.

 

The government says the Irish passport numbers publicized by Dubai authorities also are counterfeits, because they have the wrong number of digits and contain no letters.

 

No comment from Israel

Israel has refused to comment on the killing and allegations by Hamas that its Mossad intelligence service was responsible.

 

A security source in Israel has said the target, Mabhouh, played a key role in smuggling Iranian-funded arms to Islamist militants in the Gaza Strip.

 

Dubai police showed closed-circuit video of the alleged killers wearing disguises including wigs and hats at the hotel where the killing took place and in public venues.

 

The 11 identified suspects include British, Irish, German and French passport holders, Dubai police chief Dahi Khalfan Tamim told reporters. No arrest warrants have been issued.

 

Israeli hit squads have used non-Israeli passports in the past, notably in 1997 when agents who bungled an attempt to assassinate Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal in Jordan entered the country on Canadian passports.

 

One of the agents had a passport bearing the name of a Canadian living in Israel, who later said he was the victim of identity theft.

 

In 2005, Israel apologised to New Zealand after two suspected Mossad agents were sentenced to six months in jail by a court in Auckland that found they had sought to obtain a New Zealand passport illegally.

 


פרסום ראשון: 02.16.10, 16:10
 new comment
Warning:
This will delete your current comment