An November 27 last year, a Syrian human rights activist disappeared in the middle of Istanbul. Two weeks later, his lawyer was informed by security authorities that Ahmed Katie had been arrested on suspicion of espionage. Now the pro-government tabloid “Sabah” has revealed what he is accused of: spying for France.
It's a wild story that tells a lot about the Turkish security authorities' methods in dealing with human rights activists. Citing government sources, Sabah writes that Turkish counterintelligence has “unmasked” a cell of the French foreign intelligence service DGSE. Katie was their leader. The DGSE offered him asylum in France in return for military and political information. The aim was also to spread false information about the situation of Syrian refugees in Turkey in order to discredit the Turkish government in Europe.
Among other things, Katie is said to have accused Turkey of illegal pushbacks against refugees on the border with Greece in media interviews. Likewise, torture in deportation centers and a deadly crackdown on refugees on the border with Syria. The Turkish state news agency Anadolu also reports that Katie obtained false documents for Syrians. Both reports said Katie received his instructions from a Paris-based aid organization that helps Syrians in need. It is allegedly controlled by the French secret service.
Offered legal advice to refugees
Katie had already reported strange happenings in October. In a YouTube video that has since been deleted, he talked about a meeting with three people who introduced themselves as employees of the Turkish security authorities. They forced him to buy a SIM card in his name and hand the card over to them. Shortly afterwards, the Syrian activist announced on Facebook that he was ceasing his human rights work and would no longer report for Syrian opposition media. According to a report by the Middle East Eye website, he contacted the Istanbul prosecutor's office to state that he only had two SIM cards and did not use any more.
Katie founded an organization in Istanbul in 2022 that offers legal advice for refugees. After several years in prison in Syria, the critic of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad came to Istanbul in 2013. At that time he was welcome in Turkey. Assad was also seen as an enemy by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Turkey is now trying to achieve rapprochement, especially to encourage the return of Syrian refugees.
According to a December report in Le Monde newspaper, Katie became increasingly concerned about his safety in Turkey before his arrest. He therefore sought an entry permit from the French consulate in order to apply for political asylum in France. The consulate issued him the necessary papers on the basis of a special regulation.
A work colleague of the activist told Le Monde that the same three self-proclaimed security officers who had extorted the SIM card from him had summoned him again. On that November day last year when he disappeared. In pro-government Turkish media, the case is reported in the same breath as the arrest of suspected spies for China and Iran.
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