Aimen Dean: an AQ insider who spied for MI6
Catching up, these reports are nearly two weeks old. Basically:
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Aimen Dean is a founder member of al-Qaeda, who changed tack in 1998 and became a spy for Britain's security and intelligence services, MI5 and MI6.
There is a partial transcript of a BBC Q&A radio interview, by Peter Marshall (one of the BBC's best journalists), which touches on many issues:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-31700894
Note how his role ended:
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Valued first by al-Qaeda and then British security and intelligence, Aimen Dean's life under cover came to an abrupt end when the cover was blown. An American writer disclosed his identity with details that could only be sourced to Dean. That was eight years ago.
It appears he was a spy from 1998 to 2007. Perhaps a book will appear next?
A short non-BBC report:http://www.theweek.co.uk/62771/mi5-d...npTyXw.twitter
Aimen Dean was interviewed on BBC World's Hardtalk, which asks:
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What does his extraordinary story tell us about the nature of the jihadist threat?
Link:http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode...alk-aimen-dean
The West's most important spy inside al Qaeda has a book out
Aimen Dean, who worked for UK intelligence within AQ for four years (1998-2002), has now written - with two co-authors - a book "Nine Lives: My Time as the West's Top Spy Inside al-Qaeda". His motive to change sides:
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Betrayal of the treacherous is loyalty in the eyes of God. I betrayed a bunch of criminals, it’s as simple as that.
Link to publisher:https://oneworld-publications.com/nine-lives.html
In after his defection, following a US media report "outed" him, he did go public with interviews with the BBC in early 2015.
Link:https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-31700894
As part of the publicity he has now been interviewed in the UK, at least twice and in the USA - with a CNN documentary to come. Link to UK interview on C4 News (8 mins):https://www.channel4.com/news/i-was-...nside-al-qaeda A longer interview on LBC (20 mins) with Maajid Nawaz:https://www.msn.com/en-gb/sport/vide...iew/vi-AAyqlUs
Link to short CNN item:https://edition.cnn.com/2018/05/23/w...spy/index.html
Now you can listen to Aimen Deen being interviewed
The Quilliam Foundation, a counter-extremism group (UK based), has a twenty four minute podcast interview with Aimen Deen and this is an excerpt:
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Eight years undercover do really take their toll on you. I became diabetic during that time. The stress of a double life is too much. You are constantly on the move, monitoring cells, infiltrating organisations that want to do harm to others. So you do not have a normal life whatsoever. So I remember, when my identity was compromised in 2006, in the beginning I was angry and I thought it was a terrible calamity, a few months later I realised what a relief it was. Because I finally started to feel at ease – that I do not have to look over my shoulder all the time…
Link:http://journal.quilliaminternational...y-in-al-qaeda/
Now you can listen to Aimen Deen being interviewed: Part Two of Two
Discovered, rather late, that Aimen Deen has another taped interview (32 mins). Their explanation:
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So… there was a choice between either the British, the Americans or the French. As far as the Americans were concerned… my defection took place around December 1998, and in August 1998, I was just lucky to escape with my life from a cruise missile attack by the Americans against the camps… So I thought basically that it would be extremely difficult to work with people who just a few months ago pressed the button, trying to kill me. So I thought, ‘forget the Americans’. As far as the French were concerned, basically, it meant that I would have to learn another language – a language I don’t like the sound of at all…not to mention that the French are rude, and aloof and arrogant…
Link:http://ournal.quilliaminternational....t-of-al-qaeda/
Changed My Mind: from Al-Qaeda bombmaker to MI6 spy
An interview in May 2020, available as a podcast and in a transcript. The intro states:
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n this episode of Changed My Mind, Aimen Dean talks to academic Thomas Small about what triggered him to join al Qaeda and then leave the terrorist organisation. Decades on, he reflects on why it remains difficult to stop others following in his footsteps.
Link:https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/cha...maker-mi6-spy/