| Report: Prisoner who killed himself was Mossad agent |
According to Australian ABC's Foreign Correspondent, "Prisoner X" was Australian native Ben Zygier, known as Ben Alon in Israel • His incarceration, according to the report, is "one of the most sensitive secrets of Israel's intelligence community."
Gideon Allon, News Agencies and Israel Hayom Staff
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Ben
Zygier.
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Photo credit: Screenshot
from ABC  | |||||
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ABC Australia has reported that the so-called "Prisoner X"
allegedly held in complete isolation inside one of Israel's most heavily guarded
prisons was Australian native Ben Zygier. ABC's Foreign Correspondent program
revealed that Zygier, "who used the name Ben Alon in Israel, was found hanged in
a high-security cell at a prison near Tel Aviv in late 2010."
According to the report, which aired on the program,
Zygier was incarcerated in the cell in early 2010 and "the case is regarded as
one of the most sensitive secrets of Israel's intelligence community."
Zygier, or Alon, according to the report, was 34 at the
time of his death and had moved to Israel about 10 years earlier, he was married
to an Israeli woman and had two small children.
ABC's Foreign Correspondent reported that "Mr. Zygier's
arrest and jailing in Israel remains a mystery, but the ABC understands he was
recruited by spy agency Mossad. It is understood Mr. Zygier 'disappeared' in
early 2010, spending several months in the Prisoner X cell."
The report goes on to say that Zygier's body was
reportedly flown to Melbourne for burial a week later, and that "Zygier's
apparent suicide in prison adds to the mystery. He was found hanged in a cell
which was equipped with state-of-the-art surveillance systems installed to
prevent suicide. Guards reportedly tried unsuccessfully to revive him."
Zygier's family, according to the report, "has declined to
speak to ABC, and friends and acquaintances approached by Foreign Correspondent
in Melbourne have also refused to comment."
On Tuesday, MKs Zehava Gal-On, Ahmad Tibi and Dov Khenin,
used the platform of a live Knesset session with Justice Minister Yaakov Neeman
to ask provocative general questions pertaining to the secrecy surrounding
Zygier's alleged incarceration and subsequent suicide.
Because the session was broadcast live, there was no way
to censor questions from the MKs and ministers. Also, MKs and ministers enjoy
complete immunity from prosecution for any statements made in the Knesset.
MK Ahmad Tibi (Ra'am-Ta'al) asked Neeman, "Today it was
publicized that an Australian citizen committed suicide in an Israeli prison
under a false identity. He was registered under a different identity. Are you
aware of this case? Do you accept the fact that an Australian citizen committed
suicide in prison here, under a false identity, and without the publication of
him being a prisoner detained in Israel?"
Neeman seemed surprised by the question and answered, "I
have no answer to these questions; the subject is not under the authority of the
justice minister. But I have no doubt that if these allegations are true, the
matter deserves looking into."
Meretz Chairwoman Zehava Gal-On also spoke at length: "I
want to hear your [Neemam's] view on the undemocratic process by which
journalists volunteer to censor information at the request of the authorities.
Does it seem appropriate to you that the Prime Minister's Office summons editors
to prevent the publication of incidents that could embarrass the State of
Israel? In the name of 'security needs or security issues' can Israel approve
secret arrests?"
Gal-On relayed an anecdote about Camp 1391, the Israeli
prison for high-risk detainees that was a secret to the public until 2003. The
High Court of Justice ruled that "in no uncertain terms people cannot be held in
secret detention, such a thing won't happen in Israel. Today we hear, in a
country that claims to be a proper democracy, that journalists cooperate with
the government, even in cases when the High Court does not perceive an imminent
threat to the State of Israel.
Life-term prisoners commit suicide and nobody even knows
they exist. How does this reflect on a proper democracy, and with the proper
rule of law?"
Neeman responded that he didn't know exactly what to say:
"Your questions need to be asked to the public security minister. As is written
in the Talmud, if the questions are correct, they require examination."
Acting Knesset Speaker Binyamin (Fouad) Ben-Eliezer
responded to Gal-On that Public Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovich would
appear at the Knesset on Wednesday and she could direct her questions to him.
MK Dov Khenin (Hadash) asked four questions: In Israeli
prisons, are people being secretly detained? What are the legal control
mechanisms for such imprisonment and the lack of publication on them? What are
the parliamentary control mechanisms for such imprisonment and the lack of
publication on them? How can the public review these detainments?
Labor MK Nachman Shai said that, "The prime minister has
forgotten that in the year 2013, the media no longer accepts dictations and does
not operate under some national agreement as in the past. The Israeli public
will know, sooner or later, what happened. It is better to present the truth to
the public, with security restrictions, and share information with it."
The Australian government said Wednesday it would review
how its Foreign Ministry handled Zygier/Alon's case, and Foreign Minister Bob
Carr acknowledged Australian officials had known of his secret detention in
2010, The Associated Press reported.
Carr said a review would be done on his department's
handling of the prisoner, who is named in his Australian passport by a third
alias, "Ben Allen."
Carr revealed to AP that some Department of Foreign
Affairs and Trade officials knew in 2010 that Allen was detained, contradicting
an earlier DFAT statement that it only became aware after he died.
DFAT said in a statement Wednesday that the Australian
Embassy in Tel Aviv was unaware of Allen's detention until his death was
reported by his family, who requested repatriation of his remains.
"Australians should not be working, performing
intelligence gathering functions for a foreign government using their passport,"
Carr told ABC.
"They would have breached, I would guess, half a dozen laws by
doing that," he added.
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