- A former US veteran allegedly conducted assassinations for the UAE, earning millions
- Abraham Golan led a UAE-sanctioned assassination programme targeting political opponents
- Spear Operations, a private military firm, was paid $1.5 million monthly for hits in Yemen
A former US military veteran has been accused of carrying out assassinations for the United Arab Emirates and has made millions of dollars in the process, according to a report by the Associated Press.
According to Anssaf Ali Mayo, a Yemeni lawmaker, Abraham Golan was hired as a mercenary to kill him back in 2015. He said it was part of a larger effort by the UAE to eliminate people who opposed them politically.
The court documents state that Golan started a private military contracting firm called Spear Operations group in San Diego along with a former Navy SEAL, Issac Gilmore. Many of their employees were former US special forces operators.
The lawsuit claims that they reached an agreement with the UAE to carry out "targeted assassinations" on behalf of the Emirates and were allegedly getting paid $1.5 million per month along with bonuses for successful killings in Yemen.
However, Mayo has only accused two military veterans and the founder of Spear Operations of war crimes, crimes against humanity and an attempted extrajudicial killing.
Golan, Gilmore and another US Army Special Forces member Dale Comstock have admitted to their roles in the assassination campaign and including the attempt to kill Mayo.
"There was a targeted assassination program in Yemen," Golan told Buzzfeed in 2018. "I was running it. We did it. It was sanctioned by the UAE within the coalition."
Although the UAE has acknowledged supporting counterterrorism efforts in Yemen, it denies ever targeting political figures there.
Although Mayo is not a US resident, a US law called the Alien Tort Statute allows foreigners to sue in American courts when international law has been violated.
Daniel McLaughlin, legal director at the Center for Justice & Accountability, stated that this lawsuit underscores the need to hold former US military members accountable for illegal actions.
"Our government has a duty to regulate how former members of our military use their training and know-how, and a responsibility to hold them accountable when they break the law," he said in a statement.
In 2015, the UAE joined a regional coalition, backed by the United States, to intervene in Yemen's civil war, which had erupted after Iranian-backed Houthi rebels took over the capital, Sanaa, and large parts of northern Yemen.
The contractors have openly discussed the mercenary mission in media interviews, revealing that their target was Mayo, the local leader of an Islamist group called Al-Islah. While the UAE classifies Al-Islah as a terrorist organisation, many experts argue that it is simply a legitimate political party that has openly criticised the UAE's agenda in Yemen.
On December 29, 2015, Mayo claims that a contractor named Spear planted explosives inside his office building in the southern city of Aden. Mayo narrowly escaped, fleeing the building just minutes before it blew up. Fearing for his life, he later left Yemen and took refuge in Saudi Arabia.
"Spear tried to assassinate me ten years ago. I survived but have been forced to live in exile separated from my family," Mayo said in a statement.
