Denmark’s top court to decide in high-stakes Daesh ‘agent’ case, raising questions of secrecy and espionage
Denmark’s intelligence community maintains its long-standing policy of neither confirming nor denying the identities of its informants, citing national security concerns.
Spy or scapegoat? Denmark’s Supreme Court weighs Daesh ‘agent’ case
General view of Christiansborg Castle, home to the Danish Parliament, the Supreme Court and the Prime Minister’s Office in Copenhagen, Denmark. / Reuters
3 hours ago
On Tuesday, Denmark’s Supreme Court will deliver a ruling in the case of Ahmed Samsam, a Danish national of Syrian descent, who insists that his time spent with Daesh was carried out on behalf of Danish intelligence agencies.
If the court accepts his version, Samsam could attempt to overturn a 2018 conviction handed down in Spain for membership in Daesh, the extremist group that sought to establish a so-called caliphate in Syria and beyond.
“A favourable ruling would allow him, among other things, to seek a retrial of the Spanish case,” said his lawyer, Rene Offerson.
The central complication is the refusal of Denmark’s intelligence bodies to confirm or deny whether Samsam ever worked for them.
Samsam was sentenced to eight years by a Madrid court but later transferred to Denmark to serve most of his prison term. He was released in 2023. He rejects accusations of terrorism, saying his 2013–2014 trips to Syria were missions on behalf of the Danish Security and Intelligence Service (DSIS) and later the Defence Intelligence Service (DDIS).
His assertion has been supported by multiple testimonies and investigative reports presented to a lower Danish court, which examined whether he acted as an intelligence operative.
“I don’t see major obstacles for the services if the Supreme Court sides with Samsam,” Offerson argued. “They would only need to acknowledge what is already widely accepted — that he was indeed an agent.”
But Frederik Waage, a law professor at the University of Southern Denmark, described such recognition as unprecedented.
“Such confirmation would be extraordinary. It would interfere with Danish intelligence operations in a way unseen in our legal system,” he said.
He noted the agencies’ emphasis on protecting sources’ anonymity, but added that the rationale is weakened in this case, as “it has long been an open secret that Samsam acted as an agent.”
Meanwhile, Samsam also faces other legal troubles. On Monday, Copenhagen’s court of appeals upheld a three-month sentence against him for assaulting a police officer.
