SpooksIsrael arrests former energy minister on charges of spying for Iran
Israel’s former energy minister has been arrested and accused of spying for Iran. The former minister served three years in jail for trying to smuggle extasy pills into Israel, and then tried his hands in various business ventures in West Africa, where he was recruited by Iran’s intelligence.
Shin Bet, Israel’s internal security agency, on Monday detained the former Israeli energy minister Gonen Segev, accusing him of providing Iran with information on Israel’s energy sector and security facilities in Israel.
Segev, a physician by training, served as energy minister from 1995 to 1996 under then-prime ministers Yitzhak Rabin and Shimon Peres. He was jailed in 2004 for attempting to smuggle ecstasy pills from the Netherlands, and his license to practice medicine was revoked.
He left Israel in 2007 after his release from prison, and tried his hands in various business ventures, mostly in Nigeria.
Shit Bet said Segev, while in Nigeria, was recruited by Iranian intelligence agents who, after helping him in some of his business ventures, supplied him with an encrypted communications system.
Shin Bet said that Segev provided Iran with “information related to the energy sector, security sites in Israel and officials in political and security institutions.”
Media reports in Israel say Segev was arrested last month on his return to Israel, after he was refused entry to the West African country of Equatorial Guinea because of his criminal record.
Segev’s lawyers noted that most of the details of the charges were under a state-imposed blackout. and that the little information which had been released gave a misleading impression.
“From the contents of the charge sheet, whose full details are blocked, a different picture emerges,” the lawyers said.
Segev is not the first Israeli to have been recruited by Iran’s intelligence services, but he appears to be the most prominent one.
