Diplomat expelled

Speaking to parliament on Tuesday, British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said there were "compelling reasons" to believe that the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad was behind the killing of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in Dubai on January 19, and that Israel's position as a close ally to the UK added "insult to injury."

"The government takes this matter extremely seriously," he said. "Such misuse of British passports is intolerable."

Israel's ambassador to London, Ron Prosor, said Israel was "disappointed by the decision of the British government," but his country remained committed to a relationship "of mutual importance." The expelled diplomat was not named by either country, although it was believed to be a member of the Israeli embassy.

Hamas leaders praised the UK's actions and said they hoped Israeli officials would eventually be brought to court over the killing.

Ministry investigation

Britain's Foreign Ministry briefed Prosor on Monday over the findings of an investigation into the passport forgeries. Miliband said 12 British citizens had their passports copied "when handed over for inspection to individuals linked to Israel," and that they were "wholly innocent victims of identity theft."

"Given that this was a very sophisticated operation in which high-quality forgeries were made, the government judges it is highly likely that the forgeries were made by a state intelligence service," he said.

Miliband met Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman in Brussels on Monday to discuss the issue, and said he asked for Israel's pledge that it would "never be party to the misuse of British passports in such a way."

France probe

Meanwhile a Paris prosecutor said Tuesday that French authorities have opened their own investigation into forged French passports, four of which were also used in the Hamas murder.

France began a preliminary investigation on March 12. The French passports were “either delivered with a false identity or falsified with a photograph that did not correspond to the identity indicated,” the prosecutor said in a statement.

President Nicolas Sarkozy has condemned al-Mabhouh’s killing, but has not directly implied that the Israeli secret service carried out the assassination.

Israel has neither confirmed nor denied the allegations of Mossad’s involvement, maintaining a strict policy of ambiguity with such sensitive matters.

Dubai police say they have 27 suspects in the murder after closely examining security cameras at the hotel where al-Mabhouh was killed.

acb/dpa/AP/AFP
Editor: Ben Knight