Why the army and the Civil Guard are keeping tabs on Muslim ranks

"Subject: National Police Force Agent Mohamed Anwar. Issue: Islamic fundamentalism. Source: Own. Reliability: Completely secure. Accuracy: corroborated by other sources."

This confidential note, from the Civil Guard's information service, dated March 25, reveals how investigations into jihadi terrorism also covers Muslims in uniform.

"This national police officer is radicalizing with time, he has the same profile as Abdel Aziz Faraj \[a false name, as is the one above, used here in order to protect the real identities of the subjects\]," concludes the secret report, written about an agent posted in the Spanish enclave of Melilla, in North Africa. The report details the Civil Guard's surveillance of the suspect, which has gone on for at least the last five years.

The document, which has been seen by EL PAÍS, covers the most relevant private actions of the National Police Force agent, in particular in relation to Islam. It covers the dates in which he traveled from Melilla to the Iberian Peninsula, the hotels in which he stayed during 2006 and 2008, and his attendance at Islamic meetings and congresses.

"He attended the Islamic Congress, organized by the Islamic Commission of Melilla; he boarded the Acciona mail ship JJ Sister at 23.59, from Melilla to Málaga, with a large group of Muslims to attend the Second Islamic Congress, which was held in Málaga," reads the confidential Civil Guard report, an internal document that does not, however, explain the basis of his supposed "radicalization," given that the conferences mentioned are organized by legal associations.

The majority of Muslim officers in the National Police Force are posted in Melilla and in neighboring Ceuta, although there are also Muslim members of the force in the peninsula, according to police sources.

"They are dedicated civil servants and they are committed to their jobs," says a police chief in Melilla. "They have our every confidence and our respect. We are not interested in their religion."

The situation in the Civil Guard is similar, with the majority of Muslim officers in the same two cities.

"There are cases of Christian civil guards who have married Muslim women and have converted to Islam," explains a Civil Guard official in Melilla. "We see that as normal and natural here. We are not prejudiced. In the academies we even have special menus for them."

In recent years, the army has expelled a number of Muslim soldiers, accusing them of being Islamists, without necessarily having any proof, according to some of the victims of these expulsions.

"To sum up, his grade is positive, but it has been observed that on issues that mix political issues with religious ones, such as Israel, the 9/11 attacks or the Iraq war, he is always on the side of the Muslims in question, as if he were directly implicated." This report, from 2003, saw the Muslim soldier in question, who was based in Ceuta, expelled. But he took the case to an appeal and was successful, with an Andalusian court ordering his readmission.

Fidel Rodríguez, a lawyer in Ceuta, who has defended Muslim soldiers in similar cases, says that things have changed. "The reports are no longer so explicit," he says. "The arguments in them are a lot more subtle when they are looking to not renew their contracts."