The Spy Who Betrayed Bin Laden (Encore) | Aimen Dean talks about his time as MI6's Top Spy Inside Al-Qaeda | 5

The Spy Who

Wondery

History

4.6 • 669 Ratings

🗓️ 21 January 2025

⏱️ 48 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Aimen Dean talks Raza Jaffrey through the highs and lows of his eight years as an undercover agent and why he chose to spy for the British rather than the Americans.

He also describes how he felt after his cover was blown when an American writer disclosed his identity with details that could only be sourced to Dean; and what his life has been like since.

And Raza gets his chance to find whether the spy movies and TV series he's been involved in have anything to do with real life.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Wonderry Plus subscribers can binge full seasons of The Spy Who early and add free on Apple Podcasts or the Wondery app.
0:14.3	From Wondery, I'm Raza Jaffrey and this is The Spy Who. Welcome to the Wondery, I'm Raza Jaffrey, and this is The Spy Who.
0:24.4	When diving into the world of spies, we're often talking about historic figures,
0:30.2	people whose actions are felt today, but whose lives and adventures took place decades ago.
0:36.3	That's not so with today's guest. Amon Dean's story is a gripping
0:41.7	present-day saga, which is still unfolding in real time. Now, as we've heard throughout the season,
0:48.0	after he came face-to-face with the realities of fighting a holy war, Amon turned his back on Al-Qaeda to become a spy.
0:57.0	It was the last thing he expected to do, but he found his calling working as an agent.
1:06.3	Amon risked not only his personal safety, but also the safety of friends and family
1:11.5	when he agreed to aid counter-terrorism efforts in the UK and beyond.
1:16.3	And then, rather unceremoniously, he was outed by the institutions that he was working to protect.
1:23.1	It's particularly fascinating for me.
1:24.7	I've been involved in spy dramas for quite a fair bit of my career,
1:29.2	and I've certainly played some spies as well. And I'm often asked whether or not those
1:34.8	stories are based in reality, how close they are. So it'll be very interesting for me today
1:40.9	to find out what it exactly is, that is the day-to-day life of being a spy.
1:47.3	Something tells me it's a little bit more mundane than movies and TV leaders to believe.
1:55.1	So what does life as an ex-spy look like? How do you adjust from adrenaline and espionage to a more ordinary way of living?
2:04.6	My guest today is Aman himself.
2:08.4	Author of Nine Lives, My Time as MI6's Top Spy Inside Al-Qaeda,
2:13.9	and co-host of the Conflicted Podcast.
2:20.2	Hello, Aman.
	...

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