Spiegel Online | 20 February 2010 | Quick Translation from German
Assassination of Hamas official: Prosecutor initiates an investigation

A composite photo of Dubai police handout photos released on 15 February 2010 showing 11 murder suspects with European passports. Dubai's police chief Dhafi Khalfan said during the press conference that police are hunting a group consisting of six British passport holders, three Irish passport holders, one French and one German holder suspected of killing Mahmud al-Mabhuh, a top militant of Palestinian Hamas group, in a Dubai hotel room in January 2010. They are from (L to R first row) Peter Elvinger from France, Stephen Daniel Hodes from Britian, Melvyn Adam Mildine from Britain, Jonathan Louis Graham from Britain, Evan Dennings from Ireland. (From L to R 2nd row) Michael Lawrence Barney from Britain, Paul John Keeley from Britain, Kevin Daveron from Ireland, Gail Folliard from Ireland, Michael Bodenheimer from Germany and James Leonard Clarke from Britain. (EPA/ubai Police / Handout)

New evidence concerning the assassination of Hamas leader Mabhuh in Dubai: SPIEGEL has learned that the German passport of one of the alleged Mossad agents involved was genuine. The Cologne-based residents’ registration office had issued the document — now the local prosecutor has opened investigations.

Hamburg — The Israeli secret service is suspected in the killing of a Hamas official in Dubai: According to information from SPIEGEL, the German security authorities are assuming that Mossad is behind the assassination of Mahmud al-Mabhuh. The indications were overwhelming. Consequently, the attack is said to have executed by the “Kidon” unit of the Mossad, which in the past has been responsible for several spectacular assassinations.

The details of the affair are interesting: Apparently, the Israeli secret service  used a genuine German passport, which had been issued as early as 2009 in Cologne, for the commando action. After the information provided by SPIEGEL, the Cologne prosecutor has filed a case late last week into possible legal action for “indirect false certification”. The federal prosecutor is still considering whether it accepts the case involving the leak of secret agent work.

According to Israeli information, in the early summer of last year Michael Bodenheimer made representations at Cologne Registration Office and asked for German travel documents. To the authorities, he submitted the marriage certificate of his parents and an end of 2008 Israeli passport, issued in Tel Aviv, and pointed to the German roots of his family, who had been persecuted by the Nazis.

On 18 June 2009,  Bodenheimer acquired the required documents from the German authorities. It was with this passport that one of the alleged Mossad agents traveled on 19 January [2010] to Dubai. SPIEGEL has found out that no one named Bodenheimer lives at the address he gave in Cologne. The trace of the alleged Mossad agents was lost in the Israeli city of Herzliya, where he is thought to have lived until June of last year.

Because of the Dubai-murder, the pressure on Israel to meet the case threatens to strain German-Israeli relations. England, Ireland and France have all demanded from Jerusalem on Thursday, answers to the many open questions about the murder of a senior Hamas leader in the emirate. Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle (FDP), urged Israel to enlighten him. The opposition in parliament is also deeply concerned about the case and has urged swift education in the relevant committees. Olaf Scholz, SPD parliamentary group deputy, responsible for domestic and legal policy, announced to SPIEGEL ONLINE to bring the secret murder, before the meeting of the parliamentary control committee (PKG): “We will push for clarification from the relevant parties. We are in the Parliamentary Control Panel to investigate this matter. ”

Israel’s government does not want to comment

The official of the radical Islamic Hamas, Mahmoud al-Mabhuh was killed on 20 January [sic.] at a hotel in Dubai. The authorities of the United Arab Emirates suspect eleven perpetrators, all of whom entered UAE with forged European passports. The suspects were filmed before and after the act by surveillance cameras.

Since the hit squads was at every step filmed by security cameras, the murder plot took place in public.

Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman had said on Wednesday in a first official statement of Israel to the affair having regard to the practice of the government: “Israel has never responded (to such allegations), they never acknowledged and never denied.” He added that he did not know why the assumption would be that Israel or the Mossad should have used the relevant passports.

The suspects are now internationally wanted. Interpol has issued an arrest warrant for the eleven alleged perpetrators of the murder. The police organization also published on the Internet the pictures of the suspects. The German Federal Criminal Police Office also provided the relevant records into the national search system.

Source: Spiegel Online (in German)

See also: Report: German passport used by Dubai hit squad not forged, citing Spiegel, but with significant differences from the Spiegel story.