Journalist Nir Rosen defended himself against accusations over the weekend that he’d collaborated with Syrian security services. Rosen, who spent four months in Syria reporting for Al Jazeera International’s English-language website, was implicated in emails published by Al Arabiya. Along with the Guardian, Al Arabiya has begun releasing a cache of emails apparently drawn from the accounts of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad and his wife, Asma. There are reportedly 3,000 emails already, though so far only a fraction have been released—and two relate to Rosen.

One, written in English and dated November 13, 2011, is from Assad advisor Hadeel al-Ali to the president’s private email account, forwarding Rosen’s CV along with his request for an interview with Assad. Ali puts in a good word to Assad for Rosen.  “He’s been writing some positive articles on Syria mentioning the armed groups attacking the security forces,” writes Ali, “trying to represent the Alawites in a good way also.”