Sánchez Admits: My Phone Was Spied On with the Israeli “Pegasus” Program… UAE and Morocco at the Heart of the Case Copy link

Algeria Gate/Agencies: Multiple international journalistic investigations and European reports have exposed the United Arab Emirates’ systematic role in fuelling Islamophobia. Through the financing of terrorist groups and the orchestration of hostile campaigns against Islam and Muslims in the West, Abu Dhabi seeks to pressure European governments into adopting stricter policies toward Muslim communities while positioning itself as the only acceptable model of “moderate Islam.”

FairSquare Report Reveals UAE Links to Reform UK and Western Far-Right Parties

A recent report by the human rights organisation FairSquare highlights how the UAE, in its campaign against Islam and movements advocating political Islam, supports terrorist groups and maintains dubious relations with Europe’s most radical far-right parties.

Authored by FairSquare research director Alex Carlin and titled The Reform Party and the United Arab Emirates: A Threat to British Politics, the report examines the growing ties between Abu Dhabi and the British far-right party Reform UK. It places these connections within a broader Emirati strategy of forging alliances with the Western far right and influencing the policies of democratic nations.

The report notes a clear political convergence between the UAE and Reform UK. Party leader Nigel Farage had previously criticised the Emirates in 2023 as “an absolute monarchy with a deplorable human rights record.” At the same time, several senior figures from the movement have settled in the UAE.

Emirati Media Influence and Destabilising Tactics in Britain

The FairSquare report also exposes the role of British media outlets and public figures in promoting Emirati narratives. It cites GB News as an example of a media organisation that has shown strong willingness to disseminate these messages. According to the findings, the UAE has combined coercive diplomacy with illicit and destabilising tactics inside Britain to advance its political objectives.

Secret Support for Far-Right Leaders Across Europe

The same strategy extends beyond the United Kingdom. In France, Abu Dhabi provided clandestine support to Marine Le Pen—known for her hostility toward Islam—through secret meetings.

Following their normalisation with the Zionist occupation under the Abraham Accords, the UAE has exploited Western fears to claim that Islamic political movements constitute a form of ideological extremism rooted in Islam itself.

Promoting Islamophobia Through Influence Networks and Targeting Muslim Scholars

British researcher Andreas Krieg has documented how the UAE systematically associates Islam with terrorism in Europe and actively promotes Islamophobia through its influence networks. He has criticised what he describes as Emirati interference in spreading anti-Islamic discourse within European circles.

The UAE has further advanced this agenda by casting doubt on imams and Muslim scholars. On 9 March 2015, the then Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi declared that “German society must remain vigilant about the people who preach in mosques and about their teachings.”

Intelligence Operations and the Alp Services Scandal

European investigations have revealed coordination between the Swiss company Alp Services and Emirati intelligence services. According to leaked information, UAE intelligence paid more than €5.5 million to the firm to compile dossiers on over 1,000 individuals across Europe and to illegally transmit the names of activists to Emirati agencies. The goal was to discredit these individuals and brand them as terrorists by linking them to extremist groups, thereby fostering widespread distrust of Muslims and Islam.

UAE Lobbying Campaigns to Distort the Image of Muslim Communities

A previous report by European Eye revealed that the UAE finances lobbying groups across Europe to shape policies and improve its own image. The report accused Abu Dhabi—one of the world’s biggest spenders on lobbying—of launching a multilingual website designed to obstruct and distort the image of Muslim communities in Europe.

Through these interconnected efforts—financing, media influence, far-right alliances, intelligence operations and lobbying—the United Arab Emirates continues to exacerbate Islamophobia while presenting itself as a partner of the West in the fight against extremism.

Algeria Gate: The Ayoub Aissiou case has taken a new turn in Spain. According to the Spanish daily El Debate, the Algerian businessman is named in a complaint linking him to an alleged drug-trafficking network between South America, Morocco and Europe.

The document reportedly refers to a drug trafficking operation originating in Brazil and Guinea-Bissau, with transit points through Morocco, Algeciras, Ceuta, Melilla and the Canary Islands. It also names the Portuguese drug trafficker Rúben Oliveira, known as “Xuxas,” as well as individuals presented as members of the Moroccan intelligence services. These elements remain, at this stage, accusations contained in a complaint and do not constitute a conviction for drug trafficking.

Aissiou had been arrested in Spain in connection with an extradition request filed by Algeria, which is seeking him in particular on charges of forgery, criminal organisation and money laundering. Provisionally released in early September under judicial supervision, he remains barred from leaving Spanish territory.

In Algeria, he has already been sentenced in several financial cases to a total of 55 years in prison, notably for embezzlement, money laundering and the illegal transfer of capital.

Algeria Gate: Spanish authorities have dismantled one of the largest money-laundering networks operating in Europe, a criminal structure known as the “Dubai Bank” or “Drug Bank” that provided financial services to some of the continent’s top cocaine traffickers. The operation led to the arrest of 21 people across several countries and the seizure of assets valued at approximately €20 million.

According to Spanish police, the network specialized in financing cocaine shipments, moving funds internationally outside the formal banking system, and using cryptocurrencies to settle transactions and launder proceeds. The investigation was coordinated by the Special Anti-Drug Prosecutor’s Office of Spain’s National Court and targeted individuals regarded as key figures in international cocaine-trafficking networks. Among them was a man known as “the Tiger,” who allegedly managed the network, along with other prominent members of organized crime operating from Dubai.

Encarnación Ortega, head of Spain’s money-laundering inspectors, underscored the network’s critical role: “Without this financing, it would not have been possible to move these shipments from one country to another, and drug trafficking on this scale could not have taken place.”

Of the 21 arrested, 14 were detained in Spain and seven in other countries. Twelve additional suspects remain at large.

The probe originated from the 2021 seizure of 1.84 tonnes of cocaine aboard the vessel Niher. Police later determined that the ship was deliberately sunk in the port of Gijón in northern Spain in an attempt to conceal a second shipment of 1.65 tonnes.

Authorities confiscated 121 bank accounts containing €2.3 million, 48 properties valued at more than €14 million, luxury vehicles worth over €1.6 million, and additional assets.

Investigators highlighted Dubai’s role as a central financial hub for drug traffickers. The emirate served both as a primary base for consolidating drug proceeds and as a command centre for coordinating logistical operations with maritime clans involved in cocaine trafficking.

The operation represents a significant blow to the financial infrastructure supporting large-scale cocaine trafficking into Europe.