The public may be excluded from part of a pre-inquest hearing into the death of former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko. A coroner was today considering an application from the government to keep some information secret at the forthcoming inquest. Mr Litvinenko died at a London hospital in November 2006, three weeks after drinking tea which […]

Media groups including Guardian will challenge government over attempt to conceal sensitive documents Alexander Litvinenko pictured shortly before his death in 2006. Photograph: Natasja Weitsz/Getty Images Media groups will on Tuesday challenge what they describe as a “deeply troubling” attempt by the government to withhold evidence from the inquest into the murder of Alexander Litvinenko. […]

Mark Jenner lived with a woman under a fake name. Now she has testified to MPs about the ‘betrayal and humiliation’ she felt Mark Jenner, the undercover officer in the Metropolitan police’s special demonstration squad, who went by the name of Mark Cassidy for six years – then disappeared. He was a burly, funny scouser […]

Inquiry hears claims of 10 or more women having sexual relations with undercover officer who infiltrated eco-activists Mark Kennedy’s evidence saying he had sexual relationships with two people is disputed by women taking legal action against the police. Photograph: Philipp Ebeling Mark Kennedy, the police spy who infiltrated the environmental movement, appears to have misled […]

Here you can browse the report which was ordered by the House of Commons to be printed 26 February 2013. Find this story at 1 March 2013 Contents Terms of Reference Introduction The legal framework governing undercover policing Responsibility for undercover policing The use of dead infants’ identities Operation Herne Conclusion Conclusions and recommendations Formal […]

The story of Bob Lambert reveals just how far police may have gone to infiltrate political groups The grave of Mark Robinson and his parents in Branksome cemetery in Poole, Dorset. Bob Lambert adopted the boy’s identity, abbreviating his second name to Bob. Photograph: Roger Tooth for the Guardian The words inscribed on the grave […]

Editor’s note: This story is adapted from The Terror Factory [1], Trevor Aaronson’s new book documenting how the Federal Bureau of Investigation has built a vast network of informants to infiltrate Muslim communities and, in some cases, cultivate phony terrorist plots. The book grew from Aaronson’s award-winning [2] Mother Jones cover story “The Informants [3]” […]

James Cromitie [1] was a man of bluster and bigotry. He made up wild stories about his supposed exploits, like the one about firing gas bombs into police precincts using a flare gun, and he ranted about Jews. “The worst brother in the whole Islamic world is better than 10 billion Yahudi,” he once said […]

The following is an excerpt from The Terror Factory: Inside the FBI’s Manufactured War on Terrorism [3] by Trevor Aaronson (Ig Publishing, 2012). Antonio Martinez was a punk. The twenty-two-year-old from Baltimore was chunky, with a wide nose and jet-black hair pulled back close to his scalp and tied into long braids that hung past […]

There is a joke among spies that the worst curse you can bestow on a colleague is, “I hope to read about you in the newspapers one day.” In the tragic case of Ben Zygier, the curse wasn’t a joke, and he had to die for it to become a reality. Needless to say, the […]

Analysis: Australian intelligence agency’s conduct played key role in Mossad operative’s decision to commit suicide Ben Zygier was a victim. From details that have already been published by British and Australian media we learn that he was a victim of his own personality and also of the over-enthusiasm and lack of caution on the part […]

Did Ben Zygier, the Australian-Israeli identified by Australian media last week as the mysterious “Prisoner X” who died in Israeli prison in 2010, also have British citizenship? Australian reporter Jason Koutsoukis broke the story in February 27, 2010 that the Australian Security Intelligence Organization (ASIO) had been investigating three Australian-Israelis suspected of links to Mossad. […]

This morning I spoke to SBS Radio Australia’s Greg Dyett about the mysterious case of Ben Zygier, an Australian-born naturalized citizen of Israel, who is said to have killed himself in 2010 while being held at a maximum-security prison near Tel Aviv. As intelNews reported on Wednesday, Zygier, who is believed to have been recruited […]

Alleged Australian-Israeli agent, who reportedly killed himself in jail here in 2010, said to have been held in solitary on suspicion of treason Jason Koutsoukis, a reporter for Australian’s Fairfax newspapers, began an investigation into Ben Zygier — aka “Prisoner X,” who is said to have committed suicide in Ayalon Prison in 2010 — in […]

Channel 10: Iran and Syria will now be checking through their records, working out when Ben Zygier entered, who accompanied him, and who he met with The exposure in the Australian media this week of alleged former Mossad agent Ben Zygier, who reportedly committed suicide in Ramle’s Ayalon Prison two years ago, could have very […]

Tip-off for journalist Jason Katsoukis led to espionage trail of Australian-Israeli spies, false passports and Zygier interview The tombstone of Ben Zygier at the Chevra Kadisha Jewish cemetery, Melbourne, Australia. Photograph: Julian Smith/EPA For Jason Katsoukis, the Australian journalist who first investigated allegations that Ben Zygier was a Mossad agent, the claims initially sounded “outlandish”. […]

AN AUSTRALIAN diplomat knew that Melbourne man Ben Zygier was being held in an Israeli prison before he died in his cell, the government has admitted, amid explosive reports that Mr Zygier was a Mossad agent known as ”Prisoner X”. Foreign Minister Bob Carr was forced into an embarrassing backflip on Wednesday as he ordered […]

Lawyer claims Australian-born suspected Mossad spy was considering plea bargain Ben Zygier, the suspected Mossad spy previously known only as Prisoner X, was “rational” and “balanced” the day before he apparently hanged himself in a maximum-security Israeli prison, one of his lawyers has said. Avigdor Feldman told Israel’s Channel Ten that Australian-born Mr Zygier had […]

Im Fall “Häftling X” werden mehr Details bekannt, als Israel lieb sein kann. Er gibt Einblicke, wie der Auslandsgeheimdienst Mossad gezielt Agenten mit Doppelstaatsbürgerschaft einsetzt, um in arabischen Ländern zu spionieren – und Tarnfirmen für Operationen zu nutzen. Tel Aviv – Die Affäre um den “Häftling X” sorgt in Israel für Aufregung. Dabei geht es […]

Ben Zygier, Melbourne man known as Prisoner X, also questioned by reporter over spying before death in 2010 Ayalon jail, in Ramle, near Tel Aviv, where Ben Zygier was held incommunicado. He was found hanged in his cell. Photograph: Nir Elias/Reuters Extraordinary new details emerged on Wednesday about the alleged double life of Ben Zygier […]

JERUSALEM — The story had all the trappings of a spy thriller: an anonymous prisoner linked to Israel’s secret service, Mossad, isolated in a top-security wing originally built for the assassin of a prime minister. A suicide — or was it a murder? — never officially reported. A gag order that barred journalists from even […]

Evidence has been unearthed that strongly suggests Israel’s infamous Prisoner X, who was jailed under extraordinary circumstances in 2010, was an Australian national from Melbourne. Investigations by the ABC’s Foreign Correspondent program have revealed Ben Zygier, who used the name Ben Alon in Israel, was found hanged in a high-security cell at a prison near […]

Security officials suspect that Ben Zygier, the alleged spy who died in a secret Israeli prison in 2010, may have been about to disclose information about Israeli intelligence operations, including the use of fraudulent Australian passports, either to the Australian government or to the media before he was arrested. Mr Zygier ”may well have been […]

He was “a double agent working for Iran”; he was “responsible for the botched operation in a Dubai hotel in 2010” in which Mossad agents killed a senior Hamas commander; he was “just a loud mouth who couldn’t keep quiet” about being a member of Israel’s secret service. These are some of the many theories […]

Bart Debie, gewezen veiligheidsadviseur van het VB en voormalig Antwerps politiecommissaris, verklaarde vandaag dat hij drie jaar lang informant van de staatsveiligheid was. Hij bespioneerde zo het VB. Hij maakte dat uitgerekend vandaag bekend omdat minister van Justitie Annemie Turtelboom (Open Vld) vrijdag verklaard had dat “de staatsveiligheid geen politici volgt uit hoofde van hun […]

“Bart Debie liegt. Hij zegt dat hij voor de staatsveiligheid heeft gewerkt tussen 2007 en 2010. Maar de eerste mail, waarin hij ons dat voorgesteld heeft, dateert pas van 10 augustus 2010.” Dat zegt Alain Winants, de grote baas van de staatsveiligheid. Gazet van Antwerpen kon de mail inkijken. “Of wij daarop ingegaan zijn, mag […]

Exclusive: Raytheon’s Riot program mines social network data like a ‘Google for spies’, drawing ire from civil rights groups A multinational security firm has secretly developed software capable of tracking people’s movements and predicting future behaviour by mining data from social networking websites. A video obtained by the Guardian reveals how an “extreme-scale analytics” system […]

A video touting software created by Raytheon to mine data from social networks has been attracting an increasing amount of attention in the past few days, since it was uncovered by Ryan Gallagher at the Guardian. As best as I can tell from the video and Gallagher’s reporting, Raytheon’s “Riot” software gathers up only publicly […]

Raytheon’s Riot software sifts through data from suspects’ online accounts Critics say it will be used for monitoring citizens’ online lives Similar to Geotime software bought by London’s Met police two years ago New software which mines data from social networks to track people’s movements and even predict future behaviour poses a ‘very real threat […]

Met police’s deputy assistant commissioner admits to Commons committee that both units broke internal guidelines Keith Vaz, chairman of the Commons home affairs committee, criticised the Met police for not apologising for the ‘gruesome’ practice. Photograph: Linda Nylind for the Guardian Police chiefs have admitted that a second undercover unit stole the identities of dead […]

Agenten van de Britse Metropolitan Police, de grootste politiedienst van het land, hebben tussen 1968 en 1994 de identiteit van ongeveer 80 dode kinderen gestolen. Ze gebruikten de aliassen bij undercoveroperaties zonder dat de ouders van de overleden kinderen op de hoogte waren van deze werkwijze. Dat blijkt uit een onderzoek van The Guardian. Het […]

A former Scotland Yard officer who infiltrated groups of environmental “terrorists” has been dragged into a high-profile investigation in France over claims he provided “fantasist” information leading to 10 activists’ arrest. Mark Kennedy, 42, who spent seven years posing as “ecowarrior” Mark Stone, was exposed as a police spy in Britain last year following the […]

Pour avoir refusé de donner son ADN aux officiers de l’anti-terrorisme, Charles Torres, « le forgeron de l’affaire Tarnac », lavé de tous soupçons depuis, est passé devant la justice. Le délibéré sera rendu par le tribunal de grande instance de Rouen le 6 mars 2013. Mercredi 6 janvier 2013, Charles Torres était jugé pour […]

Auch ein UN-Gesandter kritisiert die sexualisierte Informationsbeschaffung britischer verdeckter Ermittler. Der Guardian enthüllte am Wochenende, wie die Polizisten Identitäten toter Kinder stehlen Britische verdeckte Ermittler haben in den letzten Jahrzehnten in mindestens 80 Fällen die Identitäten gestorbener Kinder und Jugendlicher angenommen. Dies berichtete der Guardian am Wochenende. Die Spitzel bzw. deren Vorgesetzte suchten sich jene […]

Metropolitan police’s Patricia Gallan gives evidence to MPs following Guardian revelations about undercover policing – along with victims’ lawyers and reporter Paul Lewis The identities of an estimated 80 dead children have been used by undercover police. A police operative who used the alias Pete Black to spy on protest groups explains how they did […]

In England hatte ein Undercover-Polizist regelmäßig Sex mit Frauen aus der überwachten Szene. In Deutschland wäre das unzulässig, beteuert das Innenministerium.von Christian Rath Die Berichterstattung des „Guardian“ über Mark Kennedy brachte den Stein ins Rollen. Bild: screenshot guardian.co.uk BERLIN taz | Verdeckte Ermittler von Bundeskriminalamt und Bundespolizei dürfen keine sexuellen Beziehungen eingehen, um Informationen zu […]

Anthony Barker says police could have put family in danger by using identity of brother John, who died aged eight John Dines, a police sergeant who adopted the identity of John Barker to pose as an environmental campaigner, pictured in the early 1990s Undercover police were “reckless” when they stole the identity of an eight-year-old […]

Renaat Landuyt (justitiespecialist sp.a): “We kunnen beter het federale parket en andere opsporingsdiensten versterken. Die zullen in elk geval nuttiger werk verrichten.” © belga. Sp.a-justitiespecialist Renaat Landuyt pleit voor een afschaffing van de Belgische inlichtingendienst. “Die harkt toch maar krantenknipsels en roddels bijeen.” PS-senator Philippe Moureaux ziet alvast geen graten in het voorstel van de […]

De beelden van het interview met Alain Winants, de administrateur-generaal van de Staatsveiligheid, die maandag werden uitgezonden in het tv-journaal van de RTBF, tonen een dossier dat de naam van Filip Dewinter draagt. ‘Het betreft in feite een oud dossier betreffende een juridische procedure die door betrokkene opgestart werd’, aldus de Staatsveiligheid dinsdagmiddag in een […]

ABart Debie, ancien commissaire de police et conseiller de Filip Dewinter au sein du Vlaams Belang, affirme avoir été “une taupe” au sein du parti flamand d’extrême droite. Il aurait en effet fourni durant trois ans des informations sur le fonctionnement interne du parti à la Sûreté de l’État, a-t-il déclaré aux quotidiens De Standaard […]