Mazher Mahmood

Mazher Mahmood (born March 22, 1963 in Birmingham ) is an investigative reporter in the United Kingdom . He became known as a reporter for the British tabloid News of the World , where he often posed as a “fake sheikh” in order to gain the trust of his target people.

Mahmood claims to have "brought more than 100 criminals to justice".

His victims included prominent people, best known the Countess of Wessex Sophie Helen Mountbatten-Windsor, whom he was able to prove in 2001 that she used her ties to the British royal family to get orders for her PR agency. The Countess resigned as head of her company. Sophie's statements about her mother-in-law, the British Queen, were too drastic even for the News of the World to publish. In 2005 he was able to elicit indiscretions from Princess Michael of Kent about Diana, Princess of Wales . He has also publicized the drug use of Prince Harry of Wales .

On March 30, 2006, British politician George Galloway alleged that Mahmood and an accomplice " tried to lure me into illegal political funding and sought my consent to anti-Semitic views, including denial of the Holocaust " (" 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 head of the Metropolitan Police Service Sir Ian Blair and the chairman of the British House of Commons on the incident that “ I believe this attempt to undermine the political process is a breach of parliamentary immunity” ( “I believe this attempt to subvert the political process constitutes a breach of parliamentary privilege " ). The News of the World tried to obtain an injunction from the High Court of Justice to prevent Mahmood's photographs from being published, but only obtained an injunction until April 7th. Galloway posted the pictures on his union's website.

Mahmood was also responsible for uncovering an alleged plot to kidnap Victoria Beckham in 2003, but the subsequent process fell apart. One of the men involved later sued the News of the World for defamation, but lost the case.

In January 2006 Mahmood met the coach of the English national soccer team Sven-Göran Eriksson in Dubai. He posed as a businessman who wanted to open a sports school. However, Eriksson asked him if he wanted to take over the British football club Aston Villa instead . He also revealed that he would leave England after the World Cup in the same year to become manager of Aston Villa and that he would guide David Beckham from Real Madrid to become captain of the club.

In 1997, 28-year-old actor John Alford offered the fake Sheikh Mahmood cheap cannabis and cocaine. Mahmood accepted the offer, and Alford was sentenced to nine months in prison in 1999 for drug trafficking. Alford claimed to have been set up and also called for Mahmood to be sentenced.

Mahmood has been responsible for the successful prosecution of arms dealers, drug dealers, people smugglers and pedophiles. It is thanks to him that a doctor was arrested who wanted to have his beloved, also a doctor, murdered. Mahmood was hired as a killer. Mahmood won a number of awards, and at the 1999 British Press Awards , Mahmood was named Reporter of the Year for his report and his indiscreet and piquant remarks by Newcastle United Football Club managers Freddie Shepherd and Douglas Hall, supported by the News of the World have been made available by telephone.

After his employer, the Sunday newspaper News of the World , was hired after a wiretapping scandal in July 2011, he found a job with the Sunday newspaper The Sunday Times , which is owned by the same publisher. In July 2014, he was suspended from Sun on Sunday , also published by the same publisher , after a criminal trial failed because the judge had gained the impression that Mahmood had influenced witnesses. The competent law enforcement agency then announced its intention to investigate over 30 criminal proceedings in which he had appeared as a witness.

Web links

• BBC News story about Mazher Mahmood

Individual evidence

1. ^ BBC, Newspaper's Secret Weapon
2. ↑ BBC, Palace denies reports of Sophie insults
3. ↑ MP Galloway 'exposes fake sheikh' , BBC, Friday 7 April 2006
4. ↑ Galloway calls in police and Speaker over 'fake sheikh' sting ( Memento of the original from May 15, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Respect, the unity coalition, March 30, 2006 
5. ↑ Fake Sheikh unmasked ( Memento of the original from April 27, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Respect, the unity coalition, April 4, 2006 
6. ↑ BBC, Beckham 'kidnap' case collapses
7. ↑ BBC, checkbook journalism in the dock
8. ↑ BBC, Beckham 'kidnap' man loses case
9. ^ BBC, Eriksson caught in tabloid sting
10. ^ BBC, Alford jailed for nine months
11. ↑ News of the World's 'fake sheikh' starts work at Sunday Times in: The Guardian, September 2, 2011
12. ↑ http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/exclusive-tulisa-contostavlos-drugs-trial-collapse--cps-to-investigate-fake-sheikhs-credibility-as-witness-9627220. html