LONDON  –  The high-end London department store, Harrods, said Thursday that it is “utterly appalled” by allegations of abuse – including rape – perpetrated by its former owner, the late billionaire Mohamed Al Fayed.

More than 20 female ex-Harrods employees have accused Al Fayed, who died last year at age 94, of sexually assaulting them, according to an in-depth BBC investigation. One said she was assaulted when she was 15 and Al Fayed was 79. Harrods acknowledged that Al Fayed was “intent on abusing his power wherever he operated.” The alleged assaults are said to have taken place at a wide range of locations, including Al Fayed’s luxury apartment in London, the Ritz hotel in Paris, which Al Fayed owned, and a Parisian villa that Al Fayed rented called Villa Windsor, known for being the main residence of the Duke of Windsor, a former British king, and his wife, for decades.

Al Fayed’s son, Dodi Fayed, died in 1997 along with Princess Diana in a high-speed car crash in Paris. Former Harrods employees told the BBC that Al Fayed’s treatment of women was known throughout the department store, with one former department manager saying that it “wasn’t even a secret.”

“I knew and I think, if I knew, everybody knew. Anyone who says they didn’t they’re lying,” the former department manager Tony Leeming said. In 2008, Al Fayed denied allegations of sexual assault on a girl under the age of 16. Police said the alleged assault took place at a business address in central London. Harrods apologized to victims in a statement, adding that “the Harrods of today is a very different organization to the one owned and controlled by Al Fayed between 1985 and 2010.”

“We are utterly appalled by the allegations of abuse perpetrated by Mohamed Al Fayed,” the company said. “These were the actions of an individual who was intent on abusing his power wherever he operated and we condemn them in the strongest terms. We also acknowledge that during this time as a business we failed our employees who were his victims and for this we sincerely apologize.”

Harrods said that last year “new information came to light” about historic allegations of sexual abuse perpetrated by Al Fayed. Since then, it said, “it has been our priority to settle claims in the quickest way possible, avoiding lengthy legal proceedings for the women involved. This process is still available for any current or former Harrods employees.” (CNN)

Photo: The late billionaire Mohamed Al Fayed. (AFP)…[+]         

WASHINGTON  –  Iranian hackers sent emails containing stolen material from Republican former President Donald Trump’s campaign to people involved in Democratic President Joe Biden’s then re-election campaign, part of an alleged broader effort by Tehran to influence the US election, US agencies have said.

“Iranian malicious cyber actors have continued their efforts since June to send stolen, non-public material associated with former President Trump’s campaign to US media organizations,” the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, and Office of the Director of National Intelligence said in a joint statement.

“This malicious cyber activity is the latest example of Iran’s multi-pronged approach … to stoke discord and undermine confidence in our electoral process,” the agencies said.

They added that there was currently no information to suggest the recipients replied. They did not provide further details on the nature of the stolen material.

In August, the United States accused Iran of launching cyberoperations against the campaigns of both US presidential candidates and targeting people in the US with influence operations aimed at fanning political discord. Iran has denied interfering in US affairs.

Its permanent mission to the United Nations in New York said that the latest US allegations were “fundamentally unfounded, and wholly inadmissible”. It added: “Iran neither has any motive nor intent to interfere in the US election.”

Malicious cyberactors sent unsolicited emails to individuals in Biden’s campaign in late June and early July that contained a text excerpt from stolen material from the Republican presidential candidate’s campaign, the agencies said.

Biden dropped out of the presidential race on July 21 and Vice President Kamala Harris replaced him as the Democratic candidate. Polls show Trump and Harris are in a tight race.

Karoline Leavitt, Trump’s campaign spokesperson, said the latest allegations were “further proof the Iranians are actively interfering in the election to help Kamala Harris and Joe Biden because they know President Trump will restore his tough sanctions and stand against their reign of terror”.

“Kamala and Biden must come clean on whether they used the hacked material given to them by the Iranians to hurt President Trump. What did they know and when did they know it?” she said in a statement.

A Harris campaign spokesperson said they were “not aware of any material being sent directly to the campaign”.

“A few individuals were targeted on their personal emails with what looked like a spam or phishing attempt.”

The former president claimed in a rally that Iran hacked into his campaign to help Democrats, calling it foreign election interference. Tehran also says Washington has interfered in its affairs over decades ranging from a 1953 coup of a prime minister to the 2020 killing of Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani. (Al Jazeera)

Photo: Joe Biden and Donald Trump. (Getty Images)…[+]