The Saudi intelligence service is said to have financed a TV station in Rijswijk that reported from the Netherlands about Iran, the arch-enemy of the Saudis. Saudi Arabia is also said to have paid 190,000 euros for an anti-Iran demonstration in The Hague.
This is stated in documents that played a role in a lawsuit against three Iranian refugees in Denmark. They were found guilty by a Danish judge last Friday of spying for Saudi Arabia. The Danish public broadcaster DR and the Dutch program argos have had access to the documents from the police investigation, the lawsuit took place behind closed doors.
For years it has been clear that the Iranian and Saudi intelligence services are playing an international spy game in Europe. With the Danish lawsuit, something has become clear again about how these practices work.
Rijswijk
For years, the satellite channel Ahwazna-tv, associated with the group ASMLA, was located on an industrial estate in Rijswijk. That group is fighting for an independent Khuzestan, an Arab region around the city of Ahwaz in Persian Iran. ASMLA also commits attacks on Iranian soldiers and government institutions, the TV station in Rijswijk reports about those actions.
At the end of last year in the Netherlands, one of the channel’s leaders, the Iranian refugee Eisa S. was sentenced to four years in prison for involvement in preparing and financing attacks in Iran. The three men who have now been convicted in Denmark were also involved in the channel. The Danish court states that it assumes that the Saudi intelligence service supported the TV channel “with significant amounts” between 2017 and 2019. In the unreleased documents, DR . read and argos that it may concern an amount of up to EUR 1.2 million.
190,000 euros
Hundreds of thousands of euros were also allocated to support the organization of anti-Iranian demonstrations in Europe, the documents say, including 190,000 euros for a meeting in The Hague. In 2016 there was a protest at the International Criminal Court in The Hague demanding that ‘the free world stop being silent’ about crimes against the Arab minority in Iran. ASMLA argued against the Saudis that they need the money for transport and hotels, among other things. People would also have been paid to participate in the protest.
The power struggle between Iran and Saudi Arabia has also resulted in deaths. In 2017, Ahmed Mollah Nissi, one of the leaders of the ASMLA, was shot dead outside his home in The Hague. According to the Dutch cabinet, Iran is very likely behind the attack. A man has also been convicted in Sweden who spied on behalf of Iran at the TV station in Rijswijk.
A spokesperson for Ahwazna TV tells argos that ‘Iranian media are behind the allegations’.
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