GENEVA, March 5, 2006 (IslamOnline.net) – Director of the Islamic Center in Geneva Hani Ramadan said Sunday, March 5, he could resort to litigation after he had found out that the Swiss intelligence services were spying on him through a secret agent.

"I trust the Swiss judiciary and parliament and am confident that they will reveal the truth about this case that damages Switzerland's reputation in order to avoid a repeat case in the future," Ramadan told IslamOnline.net Saturday, March 4.

Ramadan, a university professor, revealed that an intelligence agent confessed to him that he was hired to spy on his center.

"He sent me a letter detailing the espionage operation as well as a written apology," added the brother of famed Swiss Muslim intellectual Tarek Ramadan.

Ramadan further said the agent disclosed the spying details to the Geneva press.

"I was an easy target for the Swiss intelligence services after I had served time, because I was penniless and jobless," Ramadan quoted the agent as saying.

After receiving training, the agent approached Ramadan's center with the declared aim of getting acquainted with the Muslim faith and Muslims.

He was assigned to place Ramadan and his day-to-day life under the microscope.

"They even wanted to know how many sugar cubes he needs for a cup of tea," the agent said.

A library photo of Swiss Muslims in a Bern mosque.

The agent then reverted to Islam in line with the intelligence's plan and became in close touch with those who frequented the center and made friends with some of them.

The agent said it weighed on his conscience to spy on Ramadan and Muslim friends, who warmly welcomed him and treated him kindly.

The wholehearted support he found drove him to confess to Ramadan and apologize for the wrongdoing, said IOL's correspondent.

According to Ramadan, the agent renewed his reversion out of his own volition.

The Swiss intelligence services neither confirmed nor denied the incident as they are entitled by law not to disclose classified information, but it owes an explanation to the public opinion as the spying scandal hit headlines.

A legal expert told IOL that the agent might stand a trial for revealing top-secret information.

As far as he is concerned, Ramadan said he will neither release the letter nor the identity of the agent at his request.

"I think he might have been exploited by the Swiss intelligence services," he said.

The spying scandal shocked the Muslim minority in the European country.

Many Muslims have expressed their deep resentment towards the misconduct, which helps create an atmosphere of mutual distrust between newly reverted Muslims and Islamic centers nationwide.

Ramadan was surprised about the Swiss intelligence's attitude since the Islamic Center "functions with great transparency."

"We have nothing to hide and everybody knows this for sure," he said.

Established in 1961, the Islamic Center in Geneva is the oldest Muslim body in Europe.

There are some 380,000 Muslims in Switzerland, representing a sizable 4.5 percent of the country’s some 7.3 million people, according to unofficial estimates.

The espionage on Ramadan was not unprecedented.

Two years ago, Col. Mohammad El-Ghannam, former head of the legal affairs of the Egyptian Interior Ministry, who was granted political asylum in Switzerland, revealed that he rejected a Swiss intelligence's request to spy on Ramadan.

Facing pressure from the intelligence, Ghannam disclosed the issue to the media, which prompted Swiss authorities to claim that he suffered psychological disorder.

Ramadan teaches French language in government institutions in Geneva. He is a erudite writer on Islam.

He was sacked from his job after he wrote an article in French Le Monde newspaper in 2002 under the theme "The Misunderstood Shari`ah."

The education ministry at the time argued that his defense of the Shari`ah ran counter to his teaching career in secular Switzerland.