Dubai authorities have now identified 26 people suspected of involvement in the killing of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, with three using forged Australian passports named among 15 new suspects, most of them Europeans.“Any state that has been complicit in use or abuse of the Australian passport system, let alone for the conduct of an assassination, is treating Australia with contempt and there will therefore be action by the Australian government in response,” said Australia’s Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, without elaborating.
Mabhouh was killed last month in his hotel room in what Dubai police say they are almost certain was a hit by Israel’s Mossad spy agency.
Dubai police added 15 new names on Wednesday to a list of suspects wanted over the killing. Six carried British passports, three held Irish documents, three were Australian, and three French, the Dubai government said in a statement.
Among other suspects named were 11 who travelled on fraudulent British, Irish, French and German passports to kill Mabhouh. Six were Britons living in Israel who deny involvement and say their identities were stolen. “Dubai investigators are not ruling out the possibility of involvement of other people in the murder,” a statement by Dubai authorities said.
The suspected killers’ use of passports from countries including Britain and France has also drawn criticism from the European Union.
Australia’s Foreign Minister Stephen Smith, who summoned Israel’s Canberra envoy Yuval Rotem, said investigations were still under way, but the three Australians were also apparently innocent victims of identity theft.
