According to media reports, the German authorities yesterday announced the arrest of a German citizen accused of spying on a mosque on behalf of a "Jordanian agency".
The man, "Alexander B." - 33 years,. he was arrested on Tuesday by agents of the German internal intelligence office, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV). German privacy regulations prohibit public identification of crime suspects prior to their conviction in court.
According to the BfV, the man has been working since 2016 for a "Jordanian intelligence agency" - most likely the Jordanian Department of General Intelligence, or GID, which is a branch of the Jordanian military.
He is accused of infiltrating a Sunni mosque in the central German city of Hildesheim, located 20 miles southeast of Hanover in the German region of Lower Saxony. Its mission, according to the BfV, was to keep an eye on mosque-goers who expressed their support for the ideology of the Islamic State. The alleged Jordanian intelligence officer was also tasked with reporting on news reaching the mosque from members who had already reached the Middle East to join the Islamic State.
Last year, the German authorities closed the Hildesheim mosque, known in German as Deutschsprachiger Islamkreis Hildesheim e. V. (DIK), and his imam, Ahmad Abdulaziz Abdullah A., known as Abu Walaa, was arrested.
The Iraqi imam was accused of supporting a foreign terrorist organization engaged in the recruitment of young Muslims on behalf of the Islamic State. The mosque has remained closed since then, as authorities believe it has become a hive of fundamentalist activity.
Jordan is one of the most liberal states in the Middle East and has been repeatedly targeted by the Islamic State, which considers its leadership as pro-Western. However, it would appear that "Alexander B." was spying on the mosque in Hildesheim, then on German territory, without having informed the host country of its activities.
At the moment, the government of Jordan has not commented on its arrest.