Syrian 'Agent' Charged with Spying on Protesters in U.S., Embassy Denies

A Syrian-born U.S. citizen has been charged with spying on anti-Assad protesters and providing recordings to the regime's intelligence agents in a bid to silence the opposition, U.S. officials said Wednesday, but the Syrian embassy in Washington denied such allegations.

A federal grand jury charged Mohamad Anas Haitham Soueid, 47, on October 5 in a six-count indictment for his efforts against activists in the United States and Syria opposed to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime. He was arrested Tuesday.

The Leesburg, Virginia man was charged with conspiracy and acting as a Syrian government agent in the United States without notifying the US attorney general as required by law. He was also charged on two counts of providing false statements on a firearms purchase form and two counts of providing false statements to federal law enforcement.

The naturalized American, also known as "Alex Soueid" and "Anas Alswaid," was due to make an initial appearance before U.S. Magistrate Judge Theresa Buchanan at 2:00 pm (1800 GMT) in Alexandria, Virginia.

The charges came amid escalating tensions between Damascus and Washington over the Syrian government's months-long crackdown on opposition protests seeking to oust Assad.

In July, top State Department officials summoned Syrian Ambassador Imad Mustapha to discuss reports that embassy staff had filmed "peaceful" U.S. protests against the Syrian regime.

As part of his conspiracy, Soueid and others intended to "undermine, silence, intimidate and potentially harm persons in the United States and Syria who protested against the government of Syria and President al-Assad, all at the direction and control of the government of Syria and Syrian officials," the indictment said.

Soueid was said to have ordered individuals to make audio and video recordings of anti-regime protests in both countries and of conversations with activists that he would then pass on to the Syrian mukhabarat, or intelligence agents, and other government officials.

From about April 2 to June 10, Soueid emailed a Syrian intelligence agent about 20 audio and video recordings taped in the United States, according to the indictment. He discussed individual protesters using assigned "product codes" and also provided their contact information.

"We're in his ring now, (very) important details I have for you," Soueid wrote in an April 6 email to a Syrian embassy official that included a link to a website for protesters in the United States.

During a late June-early July trip to Syria paid for by the government, Soueid was said to have met with Assad and spoken with him in private.

But when questioned by FBI agents around August 3, Soueid denied he had ever recorded or collected information on people in the United States and or shared any such data with Syrian government officials.

Soueid is also accused of lying on his application to purchase a 9mm pistol. If convicted, he faces up to 15 years in prison on the spying charges, 15 years for the firearms charge and 10 years for making false statements to federal investigators.

Reacting to the news of Soueid's arrest, the embassy said in a statement: "Neither Mr. Soueid nor any other citizen of the US is an agent of the Syrian government."

A federal grand jury charged Soueid on October 5 in a six-count indictment for spying on Syrian opposition activists in the United States and Syria and providing recordings to the regime's intelligence agents.

The Leesburg, Virginia, man was charged with conspiracy and acting as a Syrian government agent in the United States without notifying the US attorney general as required by law.

But the Syrian embassy in Washington said the allegation that a US citizen was working with Damascus "to intimidate US citizens is absolutely baseless and totally unacceptable."

"Contrary to the statement of the Department of Justice, Mr. Soueid is not an agent of any Syrian institution; he never worked under directions or control of any Syrian official," it added.

It also denied that the Syrian government had paid travel expenses or any kinds of funds to Soueid, and rejected the notion that he had met privately with Assad.

Soueid "has never provided any individual at the Syrian embassy in the US with any information regarding US protesters or otherwise. This is a flagrant effort to defame the embassy of Syria based on sheer lies and fabrications," the statement said.

The embassy also challenged the Justice Department to provide evidence to back up the allegations, which it called "a campaign of distortion and fabrications."