‘Fake Sheikh’ Reporter Gets Taste of His Own Medicine

Mazher Mahmood, a British reporter who dresses up as a wealthy Arab businessman to entrap high-profile victims in sting operations, has been publicly outed by a member of Parliament.

NY Times:

‘Gotcha’ Master Tastes His Own Medicine

By ERIC PFANNER

LONDON — He has duped England’s soccer coach, members of the royal family and a procession of philandering athletes and petty criminals, getting them to commit indiscretions that were then splashed as scoops on the front page of one of Britain’s most rambunctious tabloids, News of the World.

But Mazher Mahmood, a reporter whose modus operandi is to dress up as a wealthy Arab businessman and secretly record conversations with his unwitting victims, recently met his match in George Galloway, a member of the British Parliament and frequent critic of Israel and the United States.

Mr. Galloway, who represents a heavily Muslim area of East London, “outed” the reporter by publishing photos of him on the Internet after a court battle with News of the World. The pictures went up on georgegalloway.com, Mr. Galloway’s Web site, this month after a meeting in which Mr. Galloway contended that Mr. Mahmood tried to goad him into making anti-Semitic remarks and to accept improper political contributions.

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