Nine Lives, my Time as MI6’s Top Spy Inside al-Qaeda
Interview conducted by Julius Cavendish, partner at Herminius
In partnership with the Diplomatic Club of Geneva
Born in Saudi Arabia, AIMEN DEAN was drawn, as a teenager, into the world of jihad before becoming one of Britain’s most valuable intelligence assets inside al-Qaeda. For eight years he risked his life providing crucial information that helped foil terrorist plots and save countless lives.
In Nine Lives (Oneworld, 2018), written with Paul Cruickshank and Tim Lister, he recounts his extraordinary journey from radicalization to redemption, offering a rare insider’s view of the global jihadist movement and of the moral complexity of espionage. Both a confession and a thrilling intelligence memoir, his story sheds light on the human cost of extremism and the price of loyalty in a world divided by faith and fear.