Trial of former Israeli minister accused of espionage for Iran begins

The trial of Gonen Segev, a former Israeli minister accused of spying for the benefit of Iran, opened Thursday in Jerusalem, found an AFP journalist.

Dressed in civilian clothes and not the prisoner's uniform, the former minister s is presented to the Jerusalem District Court for a closed reading of the indictment, which lasted a few minutes

The next hearing was scheduled for September.

According to the Act Gonen Segev, Minister of Energy and Infrastructure between 1995 and 1996, is charged with espionage, badisting the enemy in time of war and providing information "with the intention of undermine the security of the State. "

He is charged, inter alia, with having provided Since 2012, while residing in Nigeria, information on the location of sites hosting Israeli security services and names of officials. Only a fraction of the uncensored indictment by the Justice has been made public.

According to media reports, about 50 articles of this indictment have been censored for "security reasons". They include the manner in which Gonen Segev obtained the information he provided to the Iranians and the missions entrusted to him.

Prosecutor Geoula Cohen told reporters that it was "difficult not to to note the seriousness of this case involving a former minister accused of spying for the benefit of Israel's greatest enemy. "

Already convicted of attempted fraud and trafficking in ecstasy

M. Segev was arrested in May at Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv, and detained incommunicado until Shin Beth, the internal security service, announced his detention on June 18. He had previously been expelled from Equatorial Guinea because of a previous conviction for drug trafficking, according to the version of Shin Beth.

M. Segev reportedly met with his Iranian contacts several times in different countries and gave them information about security and energy resources in Israel, the Shin Beth said at the time of his arrest.

His lawyer, Moche Mazor, pointed out that he could not give details on the record because of the censorship. He expressed the hope, however, that "this case will return to its fair proportion at the end of the procedure."

Doctor, elected in 1992 on a far-right list, Gonen Segev left his party and voted in favor favor of the Oslo II agreements in October 1995, allowing then Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin to pbad the second phase of the agreement, which was supposed to lead to the creation of a Palestinian state, in Parliament.

He was later appointed Minister of Energy and Infrastructure. In 2003, he was sentenced to one year suspended sentence for attempted fraud. A year later, he was sentenced to five years in prison for ecstasy trafficking.

Iran is the pet peeve of Israel who believes that the nuclear and ballistic program of the Islamic Republic represents for him an existential threat.

Any reproduction forbidden