Turkey Says Alleged U.A.E. Spy Committed Suicide in Prison

(Bloomberg) -- One of the two alleged intelligence operatives arrested by Turkey on charges of spying for the United Arab Emirates has committed suicide at a Turkish prison, the prosecutor’s office in Istanbul said on Monday.

The suspect, a man of Palestinian origin, was being held in solitary confinement when a guard serving breakfast found him hanging from the bathroom door about two hours after morning roll call on Sunday, the prosecutor’s office in Istanbul said in a statement, according to state-run Anadolu Agency.

The two men were detained earlier this month and told the police that they were asked by U.A.E. authorities to spy on members of the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas, the Palestinian group that controls the Gaza Strip, according to a senior Turkish official who asked not to be identified because details of the probe haven’t been made public.

A spokesman for the U.A.E. government wasn’t immediately available for comment.

Turkish state media have reported that police were investigating whether the suspects were involved in the murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi. But the Turkish official said that there doesn’t appear to be a direct link between the men and the Saudi government critic’s murder at the kingdom’s consulate in Istanbul.

--With assistance from Cagan Koc and Selcan Hacaoglu.

To contact the reporter on this story: Firat Kozok in Ankara at fkozok@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Onur Ant at oant@bloomberg.net, ;Riad Hamade at rhamade@bloomberg.net, Amy Teibel, Mark Williams

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