Dubai to "closely" inspect western passports

Dubai police said that western passports would be closely inspected following the murder of a top Hamas leader Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in a hotel room of the Gulf city-state.

"We respect all people and all religions, whether they are Muslims, Jews, Christians or others," Dubai Police Chief Dahi Khalfan told AFP, asked about remarks attributed to him that "all Jews" would be prevented from entering Dubai.

He said immigration services would be on their guard "after Israel's abuse of passports from Western countries," although there was no way of knowing if a Westerner entering the United Arab Emirates was an Israeli with dual citizenship.

Mabhouh, a founder of the Palestinian Islamist Hamas organization's military wing, was found dead in a room of the luxurious al-Bustan Rotana hotel near Dubai's airport on Jan. 20.

Dubai police have identified 26 suspects from the hit squad murder they say bore the hallmarks of the Mossad. The Hamas man had been drugged and then suffocated.

Earlier, Dubai police said they were seeking the arrest of Israel's prime minister and the head of its spy agency over Mabhouh's murder.

Khalfan said he had issued the demand for the arrest warrants as he was now certain they ordered the Cold War-style hit on Mabhouh.

"I have presented the (Dubai) prosecutor with a request for the arrest of (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu and the head of Mossad," Meir Dagan, said Khalfan.

"I am now completely sure that it was Mossad," said the police Lt. Gen.

Arrest warrant

Khalfan said last month that Dubai would issue an arrest warrant for Netanyahu if Israel was found to be implicated in the murder of the Palestinian militant.

Netanyahu "will be the first to be wanted for justice as he would have been the one who signed the decision to kill Mabhouh in Dubai," he was quoted as saying in The National daily on Feb. 5.

"We will issue an arrest warrant against him," said the English-language newspaper published in Abu Dhabi.

Police say the suspects entered Dubai on fake passports using the identities of 12 people from Britain, six from Ireland, four from France, three Australians and a German, before fleeing the Gulf emirate.

Two members of the hit squad which killed Mabhouh had "returned to the United States after passing through a European country," said Khalfan, who on Monday said the suspects were hiding out in Israel where they could avoid arrest.

Israeli officials have refused to confirm or deny the reports.

But Israel's media sees the killing as Mossad's work, and the probe has caused a diplomatic headache for the Jewish state with the countries whose passports were used summoning its envoys to hear angry protests.

On Tuesday, Ireland's Sinn Fein defended a town council's decision to remove a page in its guestbook signed by the Israeli ambassador over the alleged use of Irish passports in the Dubai murder.

The Israeli embassy in Dublin described the incident as "a rare exception" initiated by "publicity seeking" by Sinn Fein.

In Lebanon, an MP representing the Shiite armed group Hezbollah said security must be stepped up for all foreigners entering the country as they could be secret agents like the assassins in Dubai.

Australia meanwhile said that it was sending police to Israel to investigate how its passports were used in the elaborate plot.

I have presented the prosecutor with a request for the arrest of Netanyahu and the head of Mossad. I am now completely sure that it was Mossad

Dubai Police Chief Lt. Gen. Dahi Khalfan