COPENHAGEN, Denmark—A Copenhagen court is to rule Wednesday in the case of a man jailed for joining Islamic State who wants Danish intelligence agencies to admit he was an undercover agent.
Ahmed Samsam, a 34-year-old Danish national of Syrian origin, has captivated the Scandinavian nation with his attempt to force the PET secret services and FE military intelligence to state that he provided information on foreign jihadist fighters when in Syria in 2013 and 2014.
Samsam is already serving an eight year jail term imposed by a Spanish court for being an IS member. A victory would help fight that conviction.
Danish media investigations, based on anonymous sources and evidence of bank transfers, have backed Samsam’s case.
But the intelligence agencies have insisted they cannot confirm the identities of their informants.
“It’s a question of national security,” Peter Biering, a lawyer for the PET and FE told proceedings held in August.
The agencies have to protect sources and “prevent terrorism,” Biering added.
Samsam said he went to Spain in 2017 following gangland threats not related to Syria.
He was arrested by Spanish police who had found pictures of him on Facebook posing with the IS flag.
Samsam has never denied travelling to his home country during the civil war that erupted in 2011 but insisted throughout his trial that he had been an informer rather than a jihadist.
Samsam’s case is that he left Denmark in 2012 to fight Bashar al-Assad’s government. On his return, he was investigated by Danish authorities but the case was closed.
He says he was then sent to the war zone several times with money and equipment supplied by PET and then FE.
Samsam has been serving his jail sentence, which has been commuted to six years, in Denmark since 2020.
The latest trial has heard testimony from several members of the media.
Simon Andersen, a former news editor of the Berlingske daily, told how he had been contacted about Samsam by a former head of military intelligence, Lars Findsen.
According to Andersen, Findsen indicated that the FE wanted to make amends by negotiating a settlement with Samsam’s lawyer at the time, Thomas Braedder.
Braedder also told the court he had been in contact with the intelligence services, without being able to go into the details.
While the Danish public has loved the Samsam trial, it has been embarrassing for politicians.
In parliament, a preliminary investigative committee probe that was opened in February to shed light on Samsam’s claims was quietly dropped in June.
And Samsam has won some public opinion.
“Most people in Denmark who have followed the case are probably now of the belief that Samsam was sent to Syria in agreement with the Danish intelligence services,” Aarhus University law professor Lasse Lund Madsen told AFP in August.
“I personally had it confirmed by sources in the intelligence world,” he added.