Turkey Arrests Jordanian on Suspicion of Spying for UAE

Date: 20 October 2020 - 21:20

News ID: ۸۴۰۲۸

ANKARA (Dispatches) – Turkey’s intelligence agency has arrested a Jordanian national on accusation of spying for the United Arab Emirates. Turkish intelligence sources told Middle East Eye that Ahmed al-Astal, 45, had been working as a journalist in Turkey, and had been sending information to his handlers on dissident Arab nationals and students. The sources said that Astal had been paid $2,700 per month. Astal told Turkish authorities that he had been compelled to work for Emirati intelligence because he feared that he would otherwise be unemployed and forced to return to Jordan.