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Mazher Mahmood

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Mazher Mahmood is an undercover reporter for the British tabloid newspaper News of the World.[1]

News of the World claims he has brought 234 criminals to justice.[2] He often poses as a sheikh in order to gain his target's trust, and is also known as the "Fake sheikh." In September 2008, he wrote a book titled Confessions of a Fake Sheik - The King Of The Sting Reveals All published by Harper Collins.[1]

Background

Little can be confirmed of Mahmood's background, the majority of which he has provided himself. His only face-to-face televised interview was with the BBC's Emily Maitlis, on the Andrew Marr Show in 2008, to publicise his book.[3]

In his 2008 book,[1] he claims to have been born in the Midlands, the son of two immigrant Pakistani journalists who settled in the UK in the 1960s. Mahmood claims that his late father, Sultan Mahmood, set up the first UK national newspaper to be published in Urdu, and later the first glossy Urdu magazine, printed at a local press and manually collated and stapled together by the Mahmood family in their kitchen.[4]

He got his first job as a journalist aged 18, exposing family friends who sold pirate videos. This gained him two weeks work at the News of the World, after which he started freelancing at the Sunday People. In 1984, while trying to expose a vice-ring at the Metropole Hotel at the National Exhibition Centre, Birmingham, while working with fellow journalist Roger Insall, he first used the "Fake Sheikh" disguise to entice prostitutes to a hotel room.[4]

He then worked for The Sunday Times, which according to the International Herald Tribune he joined in 1989. Then managing editor Roy Greenslade suggested that he was dismissed for an attempted cover-up of an error he had made,[5] while Mahmood claims he resigned. Mahmood claims to have been a producer on the TV-am programme of David Frost, and joined the News of the World in 1991.[1]

Methodology

Mahmood works secretively, rarely going into the News International offices. Written into Mahmood's contract is a clause stating that his photograph will never be published in the newspaper. If he features in photos that accompany his stories, his face is always concealed and a silhouette is used next to his byline.[6]

During his investigations, as well as the "Fake Sheikh," Mahmood also uses the identity of businessman Sam Fernando.[7] He is often accompanied by a bodyguard, said to be his second cousin Mahmood Qureshi, who often poses as businessman Pervaiz Khan.[8] Conrad Brown, son of a former NoW reporter, operates the concealed video cameras and microphones.[9]

The News of the World pays his £120,000-a-year salary, plus an editorial and technical support budget which includes a dedicated technical support crew, his two bodyguards, and essential props, including: luxury hotel suites; private jets; limousines; and fees paid to informants.[9]

Critic

Although Mahmood has helped to expose crime, many find the way he does it both morally and ethically distasteful. His former boss Roy Greenslade and politician George Galloway are both critics,[4][9][10] while lawyers have argued that Mahmood's conduct, backed by the editorial policy of the News of the World, deliberately involves serious breaches of the law of England and Wales.[6]

In 1999, after a Mahmood investigation exposed the Earl of Hardwicke and another man as drug dealers,[11] the jury sent a note to the judge explaining that they had reached their decision to convict two men with great reluctance. They said they would have acquitted the men if the law had enabled them to take into account the "extreme provocation" they had been under to sell cocaine to Mahmood. The judge agreed and passed suspended sentences.[7][9]

Awards

Mahmood has picked up various industry awards, including Reporter of the Year for his expose of Newcastle United directors.[12] At the awards ceremony, a figure attired in full sheikh's outfit, with the face covered, went up to collect the award. The attire was then thrown off to reveal Kelvin Mackenzie, former editor of The Sun.[6]

Political targets

George Galloway

On 30 March 2006 the politician George Galloway claimed that Mahmood and an accomplice "sought to implicate me in what would be illegal political funding and sought my agreement to anti-Semitic views, including Holocaust denial". Galloway wrote to the Metropolitan police commissioner, Sir Ian Blair, and the Speaker of the House of Commons about the incident, saying that I believe this attempt to subvert the political process constitutes a breach of parliamentary privilege. In his letter to the Speaker's office Galloway also claimed that Mahmood had in the past deceived Diane Abbott and had sought a meeting with Jeremy Corbyn, both also prominent anti-war MPs.[13][14] The News of the World tried to secure a High Court injunction preventing publication of photographs of Mahmood, even on weblogs, but were granted only a temporary injunction, which expired on 7 April 2006.[15] Galloway sought to thwart this tactic by brandishing a photograph of Mahmood, during an interview on Channel 4 news.[16]

Dalliances

Political targets of Mahmood's investigations have included Minister David Mellor,[17][18] who resigned following his affair with actress Antonia de Sancha.[19] Environment Minister Tim Yeo was caught cheating on his wife, and both his secret love child with Julia Stent[20] and his earlier adopted daughter were revealed.[21]

Immigration

He has repeatedly entered the UK in the back of lorries and using fake passports to highlight lax immigration rules. Corrupt Home Office officials and corrupt police officers, solicitors and crooked doctors have also been targets.[4]

250th criminal

In January 2010 the News of the World claimed Mahmood had caught his 250th villain, when Conservative councillor Suresh Kumar demanded a £10,000 'bung' (bribe) to pass a planning application. The 44-year-old was found guilty at Southwark Crown Court of corruption and jailed for 12 months, banned from holding any public office for five years.[22]

"Exposing" criminals

Mahmood claims to have been involved in over 250 successful criminal prosecutions including alleged arms dealers, drug dealers, numerous immigration racketeers and several paedophiles. He has also been responsible for jailing a doctor who wanted his mistress - another doctor - to be murdered, with Mahmood taken on as a hit man.

In September 2004 he posed as a Muslim extremist to "expose" three men who were trying to buy radioactive material for a suspected Muslim terrorist group seeking to carry out attacks in the United Kingdom. The men were later found not guilty following a trial at the Old Bailey, with the judge criticizing the News of the World for not checking the credibility of the story before printing.[23][24]

Sports celebrity targets

Mahmood won the "Reporter of the Year" award in 1999 for his exposé of Newcastle football bosses Freddie Shepherd and Douglas Hall, who mocked fans and branded Geordie women "dogs" after taking Mahmood posing as the fake sheik to a brothel in Marbella.[12]

Footballer John Barnes was caught by Mahmood twice cheating on his wife with two different lovers, and Ian Wright was also caught having an affair. Footballer John Fashanu was exposed for match fixing. Fashanu offered to fix matches for Mahmood and took a cash deposit. After being exposed, Fashanu claimed he knew about the sting all along, and was going along to gather evidence for the police.[25]

In January 2006, Mahmood met up with England head coach Sven-Göran Eriksson, posing as a businessman interested in opening a sports academy, but Eriksson asked him to take over Aston Villa FC instead. Eriksson revealed how he would leave England after the World Cup to become Aston Villa manager, and that he would approach David Beckham from Real Madrid to become captain. On 23 January, the Football Association announced that Eriksson would leave his job after the 2006 FIFA World Cup, and it was thought that the News of the World allegations played a part in this decision.[26] This was later denied by both parties, with Eriksson explaining that there was a prior arrangement to terminate his contract immediately after the World Cup.

On 28 March 2010 Mahmood exposed former world champion boxer Joe Calzaghe for taking cocaine. The boxer and Strictly Come Dancing contestant came clean after being caught red handed in a sting, vowing to seek help for his drug problems.[27]

In May 2010, Mahmood exposed World Snooker Champion John Higgins and his agent Pat Mooney for apparently agreeing to fix the outcome of future individual frames which would not necessarily alter the course of a match. Meeting in a hotel room in Kiev, Ukraine on the morning of Friday 30 April, where Higgins and his manager had travelled after his exit from the 2010 World Championship, to ostensibly meet the undercover News of the World team the newspaper described as men posing as businessmen interested in organising a series of events linked to the World Series of Snooker. In video, it is alleged that Higgins and Mooney had agreed to throw four frames in four separate tournaments in exchange for a €300,000 total payment.[28] On the publication of the story on Sunday 2 May, Barry Hearn, Chairman of the WPBSA, immediately suspended Higgins from WPBSA tournaments, promising a full investigation, stating "Those responsible, if proved, will be dealt with in a very harsh and brutal way. People have a right to see pure sport – that's what I want snooker to be." Mooney resigned from his post as director of the WPBSA.[29] Higgins subsequently issued a statement denying he had ever been involved in match fixing, and said of the meeting, "I didn't know if this was the Russian mafia or who we were dealing with. At that stage I felt the best course of action was just to play along with these guys and get out of Russia".[30] Mooney also said "we were genuinely in fear for our safety".[31]

In August 2010 he again posed as the "Fake Sheikh" to expose Pakistan cricketers Mohammad Amir, Mohammad Asif, Salman Butt and Kamran Akmal for spot-fixing 3 no-balls, in an incident that veteran Richie Benaud described as the most distressing revelation in his 52 years of watching cricket.[32]

Royal targets

Mahmood's targets include Sophie, Countess of Wessex, recorded in 2001 on a tape that has not been made public, and whose contents are disputed, [33] and Sarah, Duchess of York in 2010, caught on video, receiving money in exchange for access to Prince Andrew. [34]

Drugs

Mahmood reported the revelations that John Alford was supplying cocaine, for which he was imprisoned. Alford claimed entrapment and demanded Mahmood's arrest; the trial judge made the observation that 'entrapment had clearly played a significant part in what he did, but greed had also been a major factor."[35] However, when Alford appealed to the High Court and the European Court of Human Rights, the appeals were rejected.

Other celebrity targets exposed for drugs have included model Sophie Anderton who was exposed by Mahmood as a drug-taking prostitute.[36]

Failed investigations

Plot to kidnap Victoria Beckham

In 2003, Mahmood was responsible for reporting an alleged plot to kidnap Victoria Beckham to the police. The subsequent trial collapsed after it emerged that Mahmood's main informant, Florim Gashi had been paid £10,000 and could not be considered a reliable witness, and was later deported from the UK.[37][38] Judge Simon Smith referred the News of the World's role in the affair to the Attorney General.[9] One of the men involved later sued the News of the World for libel but lost.[39]

Dirty bomb

In 2004, Mahmood led an investigation into exposing the creation of a "dirty bomb," through the supply of the fictitious substance red mercury to three men from a supposed terrorist group. Mahmood was registered as an informant for the Metropolitan Police Anti-Terrorist Branch during the story, which lead to a criminal case prosecution by the Crown Prosecution Service. The case, signed off by the Attorney General, collapsed in July 2006.[4]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Mahmood, Mazher (1 September 2008). Confessions of a Fake Sheik: "The King of the Sting" Reveals All. Harper Collins. ISBN 0007288093.
  2. ^ Newspaper's secret weapon BBC News - 3 November 2002
  3. ^ Maitlis, Emily (31 August 2008). "Investigative journalism strangled". BBC News. Retrieved 22 May 2010.
  4. ^ a b c d e Gallagher, Rachael (9 May 2008). "Secrets of the fake sheik Mazher Mahmood". Press Gazette. Retrieved 22 May 2010.
  5. ^ Pfanner, Eric (16 April 2006). "Exposé backfires on 'fake sheik' of tabloids". The New York Times.
  6. ^ a b c "Reporter's string of scoops". BBC News. 15 January 2006. Retrieved 22 May 2010.
  7. ^ a b Greenslade, Roy (16 April 2006). "Why I am out to nail Mazher Mahmood". The Independent. London. Retrieved 22 May 2010. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |uthorlink= ignored (help)
  8. ^ http://www.septicisle.info/index.php?q=/2006/03/fake-sheikh-exposed-mazher-mahmood-and.html
  9. ^ a b c d e "The dirty digger". The Daily Telegraph. London. 8 June 2003. Retrieved 22 May 2010.
  10. ^ "Roy Greenslade & News International". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 22 May 2010.
  11. ^ Labi, Aisha (10 November 2002). "A Wolf in Sheik's Clothing". Time Magazine/CNN. Retrieved 22 May 2010.
  12. ^ a b Brown, Jonathan (3 June 2003). "The award-winning 'fake sheikh' who terrifies the rich and famous". The Independant. London. Retrieved 2 March 2010.
  13. ^ "MP Galloway 'exposes fake sheikh'". BBC News. 7 April 2006. Retrieved 12 May 2010.
  14. ^ http://www.respectcoalition.org/?ite=1027
  15. ^ Gibson, Owen (7 April 2006). "Paper drops appeal to keep anonymity of undercover reporter". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 12 May 2010.
  16. ^ "Exposing the 'Fake Sheikh'". George Galloway. 7 April 2006. Archived from the original on 7 April 2006. Retrieved 10 November 2010.
  17. ^ Stuart, Julia (17 July 2002). "Antonia De Sancha: I kissed, I told, and then..." The Independent. London.
  18. ^ Ferguson, Euan (3 November 2002). "He's behind you..." The Guardian. London.
  19. ^ "1992: Mellor resigns over sex scandal". BBC News. 24 September 1992.
  20. ^ Wynn Davies, Patricia; Boggan, Steve (6 January 1994). "The Yeo Resignation: Local party ousts Yeo: Whips blame MP for failing to reconcile constituency to his problems after fathering child in an affair". The Independent. London.
  21. ^ Woolf, Marie (13 November 2003). "After 36 years, Yeo asks the daughter he gave away to contact him". The Independent. London.
  22. ^ "News of the World's fake sheikh catches his 250th villain". The News of the World. 24 January 2010. Retrieved 22 May 2010.
  23. ^ Summers, Chris (25 July 2006). "Is this the end for 'fake sheikh'?". BBC News. Retrieved 12 May 2010.
  24. ^ Brook, Stephen (25 July 2006). "Terror plot accused walk free". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 12 May 2010.
  25. ^ Kelso, Paul (28 July 2003). "Fashanu denies new match-fixing story after investigator claims latest sting". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 12 May 2010.
  26. ^ "Eriksson to quit after world cup". BBC sport. 23 January 2006. Retrieved 7 July 2007.
  27. ^ Macfarlane, Jo (4 April 2010). "Joe Calzaghe's cocaine, jealousy and betrayal". Daily Mail. London. Retrieved 22 May 2010.
  28. ^ Mahmood, Mazher (2 May 2010). "How world snooker champion John Higgins plots to betray his fans for cash". The News of the World. Retrieved 22 May 2010.
  29. ^ "Snooker champion John Higgins in 'bribe' allegation". BBC Sport. 2 May 2010. Retrieved 22 May 2010.
  30. ^ Dave Middleton (2 May 2010). "John Higgins: 'My conscience is 100% clear' after bribery allegations". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 2 May 2010.
  31. ^ "John Higgins suspended in snooker bribe probe". BBC News. 2 May 2010. Retrieved 2 May 2010.
  32. ^ Benaud, Richie (28 August 2010). "SAD DAY FOR MY GAME". The News of the World.
  33. ^ "Palace denies reports of Sophie insults". BBC News. 2 April 2001.
  34. ^ Mahmood, Mazher (23 May 2010). "Duchess of York Sarah Ferguson plots to sell access to Prince Andrew". The News of the World.
  35. ^ "Alford jailed for nine months". BBC News. 26 May 1999. Retrieved 12 May 2010.
  36. ^ "Snorty, snorty, Sophie!". The News of the World. 18 November 2007.
  37. ^ "Beckham 'kidnap' case collapses". BBC News. 2 June 2003. Retrieved 12 May 2010.
  38. ^ Higham, Nick (3 June 2003). "Chequebook journalism in the dock". BBC News. Retrieved 12 May 2010.
  39. ^ "Beckham 'kidnap' man loses case". BBC News. 4 May 2005. Retrieved 12 May 2010.

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