Iraqi envoy's son faces spy charge
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NEW YORK (CNN) -- The son of a former Iraqi diplomat has been arrested by the FBI on espionage charges.
Raed Rokan Al-Anbuke, the son of the former deputy permanent representative to the Iraqi Mission for the United Nations, is charged with acting "as an agent of the Iraqi Intelligence Service," a statement from the U.S. Attorney's office for the Southern District of New York said.
"Federal law requires individuals who are acting at agents for foreign governments to register as such with the Attorney General of the United States," but Al-Anbuke never registered, the statement said.
Al-Anbuke was originally scheduled to be arraigned Monday in federal court in Manhattan, but the magistrate moved the arraignment to Tuesday.
FBI spokesman Joseph Valiquette said Al-Anbuke has been in custody since March 25 for an immigration violation and is being held in the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn.
Valiquette would not say what prompted the arrest Monday, but said the FBI had been looking into the Al-Anbuke case "for some time."
According to the complaint filed in federal court, the Iraqi Intelligence Service is accused of playing a role in several terrorist operations, "including the attempted assassination of former President George H.W. Bush, and attempted bombings during Operation Desert Storm."
"Additionally, the IIS has located, intimidated and killed Iraqi defectors and dissidents living abroad," the federal complaint said.
The complaint said the FBI met with Al-Anbuke several times between July, 2001 and January, 2003, regarding his contacts with members of the IIS, and he told agents he purchased a miniature camera for the group and gave his Iraqi handlers personal information about six Iraqi expatriates living in the United States.
It said his father had also worked covertly for the IIS in the United States.
Gregory Cooper, who was assigned to defend Al-Anbuke late Monday, said he has not yet met with his client, but expected to do so Tuesday morning before the arraignment.
