Suspected spy tells Dutch judges it is too 'unsafe' to discuss case

ROTTERDAM, The Netherlands (CN) — A man charged with giving classified information to Morocco told judges at the Rotterdam District Court he did not want to discuss the case against him because it was “unsafe” to do so.

Abderrahim El M. — names of defendants are redacted in The Netherlands for privacy — spoke in court for the first time since his 2023 arrest, claiming he was unable to answer questions because of the confidential nature of his work at the Dutch counterterrorism watchdog.

“I do not feel comfortable explaining it during this hearing,” the 65-year-old said. He worked as an interpreter and analyst at the National Coordinator for Security and Counterterrorism for decades and was considered an expert on Islamic extremism.

According to police, when Abderrahim El M. was arrested at Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport in October 2023 he was carrying dozens of data storage devices containing state secrets. A search of his house turned up nearly 1,000 classified documents, including hundreds from the Dutch secret service and 65 from military intelligence.

For years, prosecutors say, he printed classified information and took the paper copies home where he scanned and saved them. They say he would then travel to Morocco, where he turned the information over to the country’s intelligence service.

When he changed positions within the counterterrorism service, he enlisted a colleague to help him print the materials, according to prosecutors. A 35-year old woman, a former employee of the counterterrorism service, was arrested the same day. She had since moved to a position with the national police.

Born in Morocco, Abderrahim El M. moved to the Netherlands to study philosophy at university.

He sat with his arms crossed, wearing jeans and a black and white sweater, during the hearing. He says the prosecution has produced no evidence that he had given classified information to any foreign authority.

“He has always remained a loyal Dutch civil servant,” his lawyer Bart Nooitgedagt said.

Abderrahim El M. says he had documents at home because he worked so much and needed the information available.

It is not the first time a Dutch official has been arrested for spying for Morocco. In 2008, a policeman from Rotterdam was arrested on charges of passing secrets to the Moroccan secret police. He eventually pled guilty, claiming he’d been pressured by the Moroccan government to share confidential information.

Abderrahim El M. will remain in custody until the next pretrial hearing in December.

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