Submitted by – Iunwatch.org. As the Qatargate crisis deepens, the European Parliament seems to suffer major cracks as many MEPs appear to work on behalf of other countries such as Russia, China, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates. Many politicians could been genuine and honest when joining the anti-corruption campaign in Brussels. But truly; other politicians are joining this campaign to brand their image and look good.
An Italian website revealed that Hannah Neumann MEP is working on behalf of UAE in Brussels after being recruited by top UAE officials. According to the website, she was recruited by Ali Rashid Al Nuami, controversial figure accused of funding terrorism in Sinai desert and Syria. Hours later and after the revelation of the Italian news website; which revealed the connection between Hannah Neumann MEP and UAE; the MEP quickly tweeted to show the support for Ahmed Mansour, the Emirati human rights defender currently in Abu Dhabi kail for many years.
Although, it’s not clear how much she has been paid, Brussels based sources close to Abu Dhabi’s government confirmed that she has earned more than € 450,000 equal to 476,754.75 United States Dollar. None of these amounts were mentioned in her financial declarations or VOLUNTARY CONFIRMATION ON THE USE OF THE GENERAL EXPENDITURE ALLOWANCE confirmations filed between 2019 and 2022.
Hannah Neumann MEP has visited the United Arab Emirates on multiple occasions. Although she declared one visit. Sources confirmed that she has been to the country 3 times In less than 2 years. Neumann did not declare the nature of the relationship to controversial Emirate figure, Ali Rashid Al Nuaimi, the Chairman of the Defence, Interior and Foreign Affairs Committee of the Federal National Council (FNC) former intelligence offer, then promoted to occupy many positions in the government, has been lobbying European Parliament through MEPs and some proxy NGOS. Hannah Neumann MEP who is one of the very active pro human rights politicians in EP; has been described of hypocrisy repeatedly where she is “selective” rather than universal when it comes to human rights.
During her last visit to UAE Hannah Neumann MEP was lavished with 5-star hotel accommodation, flown with Emirates official airline on first class and also received valuable gifts. She was also attended private meeting to the “Majlis” the private council and hospitality house of Ali Rashid Al Nuaimi.
Who is Ali Rashid Al Nuaimi?
Former Muslim brotherhood figure then top UAE official, Ali Rashid Al-Nuaimi has played various roles to support UAE foreign policy including armed intervention in the horn of Africa and funding terrorist and radical groups in MENA region. According to WordPress report published in 2018, he played a major role in following up the affairs of terrorist groups affiliated with the UAE intelligence, and is considered the first and direct responsible for all their affairs and supplying them with money and weapons.
The report stated that, “Ali Rashid Al-Nuaimi plays the role of the religious guide and spiritual father of these groups, feeding them with extremist ideas and dressing their members with deviant ideas. It is no secret that the UAE, through Al-Nuaimi, has formed terrorist groups in Syria since the start of the internal crisis, and has supported them with millions of dollars and successive arms deals.
It also mentioned that Ali Rashid Al-Nuaimi was in direct contact with these groups, such as the Group of Muhajireen and Ansar, and has provided hundreds of its members with lectures on extremism and strategies of religious ideas and extremist ideas, in addition to the necessary psychological support for the members in the arena of killing and destruction.
Al-Nuaimi also gave lectures on military education, Islamic jihad education, and the rule of subservience to the ruler, Prince Muhammad bin Zayed Al Nahyan, and lectures on military discipline. The Muhajireen and Ansar Brigade joined the Southern Front alliance of the Free Syrian Army, and it is one of the main factions of the Revolutionary Army Gathering, the largest military authority in Daraa Governorate. Previous reports revealed that a number of the brigade’s leaders periodically visited the UAE as part of the Syrian factions’ negotiations, during which they met with Al-Nuaimi and Emirati security and military leaders.
Al-Nuaimi also visited the brigade and other organizations in Syria in the summer of 2014, to solve some organizational problems, but he failed in his mission, which led to splits within the group. As Ali Rashid al-Nuaimi organized other groups such as the Chechen Crimean group and the Jaish al-Muhajireen and provided them with money, weapons and psychological support.
Hannah Neumann MEP, the German “Brussels-Arm” of Ali Rashid al-Nuaimi
Hannah Neumann and she is, since 2019, an influential member of the German Green parliamentary group in the European Parliament, where she deals with civil rights and espionage. Specifically, she is part of the group of MEPs studying the collaboration between Israel and the United Arab Emirates in the Pegasus project – one of the electronic and spyware systems used by the Gulf monarchies to spy on the political and economic leaderships of the West.
What Neumann does not say, is that she herself has difficulty resisting the temptation to cultivate friendly relations in the Persian Gulf: in the picture, dressed in blue, we see her attending a conference in Dubai, at which the local monarchy has gathered MEPs willing to ‘redraft’ an EU resolution condemning the condition of women in that country. The mere fact that she attended should be a worrying sign. Neumann is one of the MEPs most active in the defence of Abu Dhabi’s interests, so much so that she was the only one in her parliamentary group to vote against a resolution condemning the government of the Emirates following the torture of three human rights defenders: Ahmed Mansoor, Mohammed al-Roken and Nasser Bin Ghaith.
Did Hannah Neumann MEP is on the “payroll” of UAE
An active source in Brussels told our organisation that Hannah Neumann MEP had met with UAE ambassador in Brussels, visited UAE repeatedly and forged “warm” and “friendly” relationship with Ali Rashid Al-Nuaimi. The sources confirm that Neumann changed her position from being anti UAE to being friendly and thus ignored many human rights abuses in the country.
IUNW spoke to former UAE lobbyist in Brussels who suggested that Neumann has voted in favour of the country multiple times and ignored votes in other occasions. She also refused to meet some NGOS which are very active in defending human rights in the United Arab Emirates. While, its not clear why the MEP become softer in criticising UAE; its apparent that her last visit to the country was “game changer” for Abu Dhabi who managed to flip her from being hostile to becoming “super friendly”
Warnings of Espionage
Although Neumann is currently UAE-friendly MEP, she is not going to be spared by UAE aggressive security services.
IUNW expert in the UAE security affairs imply that there are concerns that Hannah Neumann MEP’s mobile could have been compromised by UAE security intelligence whilst in the visit. UAE has long history of hacking mobiles phones and devices of visitors of foreign countries. Thus, the MEPs parliamentary business and activities could have been tracked by the UAE security services for months since her last visit earlier this year.
Hannah Neumann MEP refused to answer our emails or respond to our phone calls to regarding this issue. We remain open to reflect her point of view in this article.
