Iraqi owner of restaurant pleads guilty to spying

An Iraqi man who ran a Maryland shish kebab restaurant pleaded guilty Monday to working as a spy for Saddam Hussein’s government and the Ba’ath Party for more than 15 years.

According to court documents, Saubhe Jassim Al-Dellemy, 67, used a restaurant he owned in Maryland as well as his relationship with Iraqi officials working out of a small office in the Algerian Embassy to inform Hussein’s government of United States-based opposition parties and military operations, and to recruit spies.

Federal investigators linked Al-Dellemy to the code name “Adam” used by Iraqi intelligence officers in documents found by the U.S. in the wake of the 2003 invasion.

Al-Dellemy came to the U.S. in the 1980s as a student, court documents said. His education was funded by the Ba’ath Party, Hussein’s ruling minority party.

Al-Dellemy paid back the political party by providing information, a process he started in 1989 and continued until after Hussein’s regime was toppled, documents said. He also received cash payments for his work.

In 1990, as the U.S. fended off the invasion of Kuwait and severed diplomatic ties with Iraq, Al-Dellemy helped shred diplomatic and Ba’ath Party documents at the Iraqi Embassy, court documents said. When the U.S. allowed Iraq to set up an “Iraqi Interests Section” in the Algerian Embassy, known as the “Washington Station,” Al-Dellemy organized social events designed to recruit new spies.

In 1997, Al-Dellemy opened a restaurant near the National Security Agency and Fort Meade in Laurel, court documents said. According to public records, Al-Dellemy has owned Gourmet Shish Kebab on Fort Meade Road since 1997.

It was at the restaurant that Iraqi intelligence officers and other government officials would meet and reimburse Al-Dellemy for their meals, court documents said. He also used the restaurant's proximity to the NSA and Fort Meade to gather information on U.S. government operations, including details on U.S. military training and travel.

He faces up to 5 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. 

Calls to Al-Dellemy’s attorney, Joseph Gigliotti, were not returned Monday.