Former cabinet member Gonen Segev was convicted of spying for Iran and giving information to an enemy state on Wednesday.
Under a plea bargain reached between Segev's lawyers and government prosecutors, Segev will receive a sentence of 11 years in prison.
The former energy and infrastructure minister – who also spent time in jail for drug smuggling, forgery and fraud – was arrested on suspicion of assisting the enemy in a time of war, spying against the State of Israel and providing intelligence to the enemy.
An indictment was filed in the Jerusalem District Prosecutor’s Office on June 15 and approved by the attorney-general and the state attorney.
Segev is suspected of providing his Iranian handlers with intelligence related to, among other things, Israel’s energy industry, security sites, buildings and officials in Israeli political and security bodies.
According to the Shin Bet, Segev arrived for a visit in May to Equatorial Guinea, where he was refused entry to the country due to his criminal past.
Security authorities had gathered intelligence indicating that Segev was maintaining contacts with Iranian intelligence and assisting them in their activities against the State of Israel. The Israel Police subsequently requested his extradition to Israel, where he was immediately arrested upon his arrival for questioning by the Shin Bet.
The investigation by the Shin Bet and the Israel Police found that Segev was recruited and acted as an agent on behalf of Iranian intelligence. In 2012, Segev first met with elements of the Iranian Embassy in Nigeria, knowing they were from Iranian intelligence, and later traveled twice to Iran to meet with his handlers.
The investigation also found that Segev, who received a secret communications system to encrypt messages between himself and his Iranian handlers, met with them in various countries, in hotels and apartments used for clandestine Iranian activity.
This article has been adapted from its original source.
