Iraqi expulsion 'requested by US'
10mar03
AUSTRALIA'S decision to expel Iraqi diplomat Helal Ibrahim Aaref was a
political decision after a request from the United States, Iraq said today.
Acting Iraqi ambassador Dr Saad al-Samarai said he believed the decision
was political.
"It's a political decision, believe me," he told ABC Radio.
"I think that Americans asked (the) Australian government ... and they
chose him."
Iraq has accused the United States of putting pressure on a number of
countries to take action against its diplomats. The Federal Government says
Mr Aaref is a member of Iraq's intelligence services and it has good
security and intelligence reasons for expelling him.
However Mr Aaref has denied he is guilty of espionage.
Today he told ABC radio he did not know why he has been identified for
expulsion, telling reporters to ask the Australian government.
In a short statement, he said he'd been working as an official who served
the local Iraqi community and any Australian citizen who had anything to do
with the embassy.
"I came to Australia to build good relationships, not to spy," Mr Aaref
said through an interpreter.
"I challenge them to provide any evidence to prove that I have been spying.
"This allegation is not correct. They've got no truth in them at all."
Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said the Australian government had
conferred with the United States on the matter.
"We certainly conferred with the Americans on this," Mr Downer told the
Nine Network.
"And they have asked us to look into the activities of Iraqi diplomats.
"And we have, in any case, a good system here of making sure we have
appropriate information on activities of diplomats that cause us concern.
"But they've certainly come to us and spoken to us about it, yeah."
Mr Aaref, who has been given until Wednesday to leave Australia, had been
trying to spy in Iraqi dissidents here, the Australian newspaper reported,
quoting high-level security advice.
Mr Downer said he would not comment on reports about the spying allegations
because he had to be cautious about commenting on security information.
"We now feel as a government satisfied with that assessment and feel in the
circumstances that it's best for this diplomat to leave the country,
particularly bearing in mind the difficult international environment we're
operating in and non-compliance by Iraq to Security Council regulations,"
he said.
"And over and above that the broader record of the Iraqi intelligence
service and the sorts of things that it could do.
"So all of those factors have come into play here."
http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5478,6103505%255E421,00
.html
