Aimen Dean

Aimen Dean (Arabic: ایمن دین‎) was a member[1] of al-Qaeda. In 1998, he joined the Secret Intelligence Service and became an MI6 spy.[2]

Aimen Dean
Born
Saudi Arabia
Other namesAli Al Durrani, Abu Abbas Al Bahraini

Early life

Dean was born in Saudi Arabia.[3] By the age of 12, he had memorised the Quran and become a Hafiz. Following the death of his mother he sought solace in Sayyid Qutb's In the Shade of the Koran. He was part of an Islamic Awareness circle at Omar Bin Abdulaziz Mosque in Khobar, where one of the instructors was Yusef al-Ayeri. In 1989, his eldest brother Moheddin went to fight in Afghanistan for three months. At 15, he travelled to Bosnia to participate in the Bosnian War with a friend from the circle Khaled Ali Hajj who had returned from fighting in Afghanistan.

In Bosnia, Dean was part of the Bosnian mujahideen Brigade who massacred over 200 prisoners by decapitation following the Battle for Vozuća. He witnessed his friend Khaled saw off the head of a prisoner with a serrated hunting knife. Just before the end of the war he was recruited by Khalid Sheikh Mohammed who suggested that he go to Afghanistan and give him a contact in Peshawar, Pakistan.[4]

Al-Qaeda

Following Bosnia, Dean was invited to Kandahar to swear allegiance to Osama bin Laden and join al-Qaeda. In Afghanistan, he trained al-Qaeda recruits in the basics of Islamic theology, history and the essentials of religious practice. He was worried by the 1998 United States embassy bombings and asked Abdullah al-Mohaja for the religious justification.

He was pointed to a 13th-century Fatwa by Ibn Taymiyyah. He researched the Fatwa which was about the Mongol invasion and their use of human shields when besieging cities;[5] it was clear to him that this was no justification for killing civilian bystanders. He believes the concept of Jihad is changed by al-Qaeda. The target of Jihad in al-Qaeda is starting world war opposed to the West.[6]

Spying

Dean decided to leave al-Qaeda, going to Qatar on the pretext of his health with the intention to disappear. He was captured on arrival in Qatar by Qatari Intelligence, who gave him a choice of intelligence agency and he chose to work with MI6. MI6 then spent seven months debriefing him, after which he agreed to go back to Afghanistan as a spy.

Dean then spied on al-Qaeda for 8 years prior to being exposed by Washington. During this time, he travelled between Afghanistan and London on behalf of al-Qaeda allowing him to report to MI6. While in the UK, he acted as al-Qaeda's representative and had to be careful to preach and recruit within UK law.[7][8][9][10][11]

Dean's cover was blown by a US writer who using CIA sources disclosed his identity with details that could only be sourced to him in a book.

Later career

After being exposed, Dean started a career as a speaker and security consultant.[12]

Dean is the author of two books:

  • The Eternal Bridge Over the River Innocence: A novel about the story of what happens to young bright and decent Muslims who come under radical influence.[13]
  • Nine Lives: My Time As Mi6's Top Spy Inside al-Qaeda: biography of his life as a spy inside al-Qaeda[14][15][16]

References
  1. "MI5 double agent offers rare insight into al-Qaeda and jihad". theweek.
  2. "The spy who came in from al-Qaeda". BBC News. 2015-03-03. Retrieved 2017-12-23.
  3. "Aimen Dean's al-Qaeda story: dramatic but hard to swallow". telegraph.
  4. Nine Lives: My time as the West's top spy inside al-Qaeda. Oneworld Publications. 7 June 2018. ISBN 9781786073297.
  5. "Attacking the disbelievers if they use Muslims as human shields". Islamweb.
  6. "The memories of Aimen Dean". tasnimnews.
  7. "MI5 double agent offers rare insight into al-Qaeda and jihad". theweek.
  8. "A Former Spy Inside Al Qaeda Speaks". CNN.
  9. "A Double Life: The Spy Inside Al Qaeda with Christiane Amanpour". CNN.
  10. "The spy who came in from al-Qaeda". BBC.
  11. "The al-Qaeda superspy: how Aimen Dean went from making bombs for Osama bin Laden to working for MI6". The Times.
  12. "Al-Qaida fighter turned MI6 spy urges effort to 'confuse' Islamic State". The Guardian.
  13. "I was MI6'S spy in al-Qa'ida". The Australian.
  14. "A Former Spy Inside Al Qaeda Speaks". CBS Chicago.
  15. "A Former Spy Inside Al Qaeda Speaks". CNN.
  16. "A Double Life: The Spy Inside Al Qaeda with Christiane Amanpour". CNN.
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