Guard at U.S. Embassy in Norway Charged With Spying for Russia and Iran

New York Times

4 days ago

Norwegian authorities on Tuesday charged a former security guard at the U.S. embassy in Oslo with spying on both countries on behalf of Russia and Iran, with prosecutors laying out evidence of a coordinated espionage scheme that they contend threatened Norway's national interests.
Mohamed Orahhou, a Norwegian, who was arrested in November, collected and leaked sensitive information about the employees of Norway's intelligence services and the U.S. embassy between March and November of last year, according to an indictment by the National Authority for Prosecution of Organized and Other Serious Crime. In exchange for his spying, Mr. Orahhou was paid in cash and bitcoin from Russian and Iranian authorities, the indictment said.
One of Mr. Orahhou's defense attorneys, Inger Zadig, told The New York Times that Mr. Orahhou accepts the facts in the indictment, but he contests that those actions meet the standards for criminality under Norwegian espionage law.
Among the details Mr. Orahhou delivered to Russia and Iran, according to the indictment, were a list of classified names of Norway's intelligence agents; the names, addresses and phone numbers of diplomats, embassy staff and their family members; and sketches of embassy emergency evacuation plans.
The information he collected was delivered to Iranian and Russian intelligence officials at clandestine meetings in Serbia, Turkey and Norway, according to the indictment. Russian authorities paid Mr. Orahhou 10,000 euros while Iran gave him .17 bitcoin, worth about $10,000, according to the indictment.
The prosecutors contend that Mr. Orahhou's actions violated Norway's espionage laws because the information transferred undermined 'fundamental national interests' to the benefit of Iran and Russia — and put embassy staff members at risk.
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