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Los Angeles Times – May 22, 2006
A former Swiss informer says his handlers
wanted him to frame an Islamic scholar
By Sebastian Rotella
GENEVA - Along with banks and chocolates, this placid lakefront city has another claim to fame: It is full of spies.
Claude Covassi, a broad-shouldered, gray-eyed martial arts expert, was one of them. He became an informant for Swiss intelligence in early 2004, converted to Islam and infiltrated fundamentalist circles here in his hometown. He followed the trail of holy warriors all the way to mosques in Syria where aspiring foreign "martyrs" are groomed for Iraq.
But in February, the secret agent went explosively public. He revealed his mission to its prime target, a Muslim scholar here who has been periodically accused of extremism, and gave newspaper interviews accusing his handlers of trying to frame the cleric. Since then, Covassi has unleashed everything from confidential documents to details of clandestine operations.
The former spy insists that he abandoned his masquerade because he found faith.
"It is not great speeches that convinced me but the force of prayer and understanding of the Koran," Covassi, 36, said in a recent interview by e-mail from his refuge in Egypt. "Islam transformed my existence."
But Swiss anti-terrorism officials reject his allegations and accuse him of a personal vendetta. It's unclear who was manipulating whom.
Covassi's story gives a rare street-level view of the fight against Islamic extremism. All across Europe's Muslim communities, security forces conduct aggressive surveillance of mosques, prayer halls, bookstores, butcher shops, Internet cafes and other outposts where legal fundamentalist activity converges with terrorism.
The case of the turncoat informant also reveals the risks involved for spy agencies -- and for a scruffy legion of secret soldiers on the front lines.
Covassi alleges that he was a pawn in a turf war between domestic and foreign services in Switzerland that resembles the conflicts among anti-terrorism agencies in other countries…..
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-mole22may22,0,5675485.story?coll=la-home-headlines
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