Image copyright Reuters Image caption Gonen Segev is charged with "assisting an enemy during a time of war" and espionage

Israel has charged a former cabinet minister with spying for Iran, the Shin Bet internal security service says.

Gonen Segev, a medical doctor who served as energy minister in the 1990s, was allegedly recruited by Iranian intelligence while living in Nigeria.

He was detained during a visit to Equatorial Guinea in May and extradited following a request by Israeli police.

The 62-year-old was jailed for five years in 2005 for smuggling drugs and forging a diplomatic passport.

He also had his medical licence revoked, but he was allowed to work as a physician in Nigeria when he moved there after his release from prison in 2007.

A statement issued by Shin Bet on Monday said Segev was detained immediately upon his arrival in Israel last month.

He was questioned about information which indicated he might have been in contact with Iranian intelligence agents and assisting their activities against Israel.

Investigators discovered during the interrogation that Segev had made contact with officials in the Iranian embassy in Nigeria in 2012 and that he visited Iran twice to meet his handlers, Shin Bet said.

Segev, it added, had also met his handlers in other countries and was given a classified communications system to send them coded messages.

Shin Bet alleged that he had given the handlers information relating to Israel's energy sector, security sites in Israel, and officials in political and security institutions, and also put the handlers in contact with some Israelis involved in the security sector by introducing them as businessmen.

On Friday, Segev was indicted in a Jerusalem court on charges of "assisting an enemy during a time of war and espionage against the State of Israel", as well as multiple offences of "handing over information to the enemy".

A gag order on the case was lifted on Monday, but some details remain sealed.

Segev's lawyers stressed that the full indictment painted a "different picture than the Shin Bet statement", Israeli media reported.

Ever since the Islamic Revolution in 1979, when religious hardliners came to power, Iran's leaders have called for Israel's elimination. Iran rejects Israel's right to exist, considering it an illegitimate occupier of Muslim land.

Israel sees Iran as a threat to its existence and has always said Iran must not get a nuclear weapon. Its leaders are worried by Iran's expansion in the Middle East.</s>Gonen Segev, a former “Israeli” Knesset member and minister, is accused of spying for Iran and aiding it during wartime, the Shin Bet security service said Monday.

On Monday, the Shin Bet security service announced that Segev – the former energy minister who previously served time in jail for drug smuggling – was extradited to “Israel” from Equatorial Guinea and charged with spying for Iran last month.

The physician who served as the apartheid entity’s energy and infrastructure minister from 1992 to 1995, was jailed for five years in 2005 for trying to smuggle more than 30,000 ecstasy tablets into it from the Netherlands and forging a diplomatic passport. He was released in 2007.

According to the so-called “Israel’s” internal security agency and the police discovered that Segev had been recruited by Iran and became an agent for its intelligence services. Segev later met twice with his handlers in Iran.

“Israeli” police said this case is one of the “most severe security breaches it has known.”



Segev sent information to his Iranian sources regarding “Israel’s” energy sector, security sites, structures, and the identity of officials in the security and political establishments in “Israel”, among other things.</s>Israeli authorities have arrested a former cabinet minister once imprisoned for trying to smuggle drugs, this time on suspicion of spying for archfoe Iran, the country’s internal security service says.

The Shin Bet security service said in a June 18 statement that Gonen Segev was indicted on charges of "committing offenses of assisting the enemy in war and spying against the state of Israel."

Segev, who served as energy minister from 1995-96 under Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, was convicted in 2005 of attempting to smuggle 32,000 chocolate-covered ecstasy pills from the Netherlands to Israel, using an expired diplomatic passport.

Segev, who was released from prison in 2007, had been living in Africa in recent years.

He was extradited from Equatorial Guinea and arrested upon arrival in Israel last month.

The Shin Bet said Segev was “recruited by Iranian intelligence and served as an agent," adding that he made contact with officials at the Iranian Embassy in Nigeria in 2012 and visited Iran twice for meetings with his handlers.

The former minister, 62, tried to connect Israeli citizens with ties to Israel's security and foreign relations sectors to Iranian agents posing as "innocent business officials," according to the statement.

Segev allegedly communicated with his operators through a "secret communications system to encrypt messages" and supplied Iran with "information related to the energy sector, security sites in Israel, and officials in political and security institutions."

In a statement, Segev's lawyers did not reject or accept the accusations but said that the indictment "portrays a different picture" than what Shin Bet said.

Based on reporting by dpa, Reuters, and AP</s>Israeli police and secret services have arrested a former energy minister and charged him with spying for Iran and helping an enemy during war time, the Shin Bet security agency said on Monday.

Gonen Segev, a former energy and infrastructure minister in the early 1990s, was arrested in May and was charged last Friday with spying against Israel for Iran, the security service said in a statement cleared for publication by the Israeli media today.

The Israeli services have discovered during their investigation that Segev had been recruited by Iran and became an agent for its intelligence services.

Segev, who served time in Israel between 2005 and 2007 for trying to smuggle ecstasy from the Netherlands to Israel, had been living in Nigeria recently. Last month, he tried to enter Equatorial Guinea, but local authorities refused to let him in based on his criminal past. Equatorial Guinea’s police handed Segev over to Israeli police and he was arrested upon arrival in Israel.

The police and security services had received intelligence that Segev was keeping contacts with the Iranian intelligence and was helping Iran against Israel, the Israeli services say.



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According to the investigation, Segev established a connection with Iranians at the Iranian embassy in Nigeria in 2012. The former Israeli minister is also believed to have traveled to Iran twice for meetings with Iranian intelligence officers.

According to the Israeli investigators, Segev provided Iran with information concerning Israel’s energy market, security sites in Israel, buildings, and officials at Israeli political and security bodies, among others.

According to Israel, Segev maintained contacts with Israeli citizens in the defense and security sectors, as well as with Israeli diplomats in order to obtain information. The former Israeli minister was working to connect some of the Israelis with Iranian intelligence agents, by claiming that the Iranians were innocent business people, the Israeli security services say.
• None The Fed Is Driving Down Oil Prices</s>A former Israeli cabinet minister, once imprisoned for trying to smuggle ecstasy pills, has been charged with spying for Iran, according to security officials in Israel.

Gonen Segev, who had been living in Nigeria, was arrested during a visit to Equatorial Guinea and extradited to in Israel in May on suspicion of "committing offenses of assisting the enemy in war and spying against the state of Israel", the Shin Bet security agency said on Monday.

It added that Segev, an Israeli energy minister in mid-1990s, acted as an agent for Iranian intelligence and relayed information "connected to the energy market and security sites in Israel including buildings and officials in political and security organisations".

The Shin Bet said Segev, 62, put some Israelis involved in the security sector in contact with Iranian intelligence agents, introducing the Iranians as businessmen.

Segev's lawyers released a statement saying that most details from the indictment remained a secret, as requested by the state.

"Even at this early stage it can be said that the permitted publication attributes extreme gravity to the events, even though within the indictment, of which the full details remain confidential, a different picture is painted," said the statement.

The developments come weeks after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave a theatrical presentation as he unveiled what he said was a cache of Iranian files purporting to show evidence that Tehran pursued a secret nuclear programme.

Segev, a physician, was charged in 2004 with trying to smuggle 30,000 ecstasy tablets into Israel from the Netherlands, using a diplomatic passport with a falsified expiry date.

 

The following year he admitted the charges as part of a plea bargain agreement.

He left Israel in 2007 after his release from prison.</s>Israel has arrested and indicted a former government minister on charges of spying for Iran, the country’s internal security services have said.

Gonen Segev, who worked as energy and infrastructure minister in the 1990s, “was recruited and acted as an agent on behalf of Iranian intelligence”, police and the Israel Security Agency, better known as the Shin Bet, said in a statement on Monday.



He was detained in May “on suspicion of committing offences of assisting the enemy in war and spying against the state of Israel” and indicted on Friday for multiple charges of “transferring information to the enemy”, the statement said.

It said Segev was first in contact with officials at the Iranian embassy in Nigeria in 2012 and that he twice met Iranian “operators” knowing they were from Iranian intelligence.

He allegedly met more Iranian spies around the world at hotels and apartments and had received a “secret communications system” to help him encrypt messages.

Accusing him of providing information on security sites in Israel including buildings and officials in political and security organisations, the statement said Segev also passed on material related to the energy sector.

A trained physician who held the rank of captain in the Israeli military, Segev found his public standing soured when he was arrested in 2004 for attempting to smuggle tens of thousands of ecstasy pills from the Netherlands to Israel, allegedly using an expired diplomatic passport.

He left the country in 2007 after his release from prison and has since lived in west Africa.



The police and Shin Bet said they rearrested Segev after he attempted to fly to Equatorial Guinea in May. He was refused entry and extradited to Israel where he remains in custody.

It said the 62-year-old had introduced other Israeli citizens, some connected to the country’s security and foreign relations establishment, to Iranian intelligence officers who he presented as “regular businessmen”. It did not say if other Israelis were under investigation.

Israel has long fought Iranian-supported militant groups, including Hezbollah in Lebanon to the north and Hamas in Gaza to the south, and the two countries have a history of espionage.

In April, Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said security services had managed to retrieve half a tonne of material on Iran’s nuclear programme from a warehouse in Tehran.

This year, the shadow war between the two nations erupted as Israel repeatedly bombed Iranian forces operating in neighbouring Syria while also accusing Iranian troops of firing rockets at its soldiers and sending a drone into its airspace.</s>Israel has indicted a former Israeli cabinet minister on suspicion of spying for Iran, Israel’s Shin Bet internal security service said on Monday.

Shin Bet said Gonen Segev, who served as energy minister in the mid-1990s and had been living in Nigeria, “was recruited by Iranian intelligence and served as an agent”. He was arrested during a visit to Equatorial Guinea in May and extradited to Israel, where he was indicted on Friday. – Reuters</s>Israel has indicted a former Israeli cabinet minister on suspicion of spying for Iran, Israel’s Shin Bet internal security service said on Monday.

In a statement, the Shin Bet said Gonen Segev, who served as energy minister in the mid-1990s,

Gonen Segev had been living in Nigeria. He was arrested during a visit to Equatorial Guinea in May and extradited to Israel, where he was indicted on Friday.

Ynetnews reported he was charged with espionage, aiding an enemy in wartime, as well as providing information to the enemy.

The former minister and parliamentarian is alleged to have provided details of Israel’s energy industry and security sites in the country, as well as information on political and military officials.

Mr. Segev, who is a trained doctor, served in governments led by Yitzhak Rabin and Shimon Peres in 1995 and 1996.

He was jailed for five years in 2005 for trying to smuggle tens of thousands of ecstasy tablets into Israel from the Netherlands and was released two years later.</s>"Segev was detained for questioning immediately upon his arrival in Israel after the gathered information revealed that he had been in contact with Iranian intelligence services and assisted them in activities against Israel. The investigation revealed that he had been recruited and acted as an agent on behalf of Iranian intelligence," the police said on Twitter.

The Shin Bet security service said that Gonen Segev was accused of spying for Iran and aiding the enemy during wartime.

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According to the police, in recent years Segev lived in Nigeria, and in May he traveled to Equatorial Guinea.

"He was transferred to Israel at the request of the Israeli police after Equatorial Guinea did not allow him to enter its territory due to his criminal past," the police said.

The ex-minister is suspected of providing Iran with information related to the energy market, security sites in Israel, officials in Israeli political and security bodies.

Segev was a member of Knesset (parliament) from 1992 to 1996, combining parliamentary activity with the post of the minister of energy and infrastructure.</s>Israeli former minister of energy and infrastructure, Gonen Segev, who is also a member of parliament, has been arrested on suspicion of espionage activities on behalf of the Iranian intelligence services, the Israeli police said on Monday."Segev was detained for questioning immediately upon his arrival in Israel after the gathered information revealed that. The investigation revealed that he had been recruited and acted as an agent on behalf of Iranian intelligence," the police said on Twitter.The Shin Bet security service said that Gonen Segev was accused of spying for Iran and aiding the enemyAccording to the police, in recent years Segev lived in Nigeria, and in May he traveled to Equatorial Guinea."He was transferred to Israel at the request of the Israeli police after Equatorial Guinea did not allow him to enter its territory due to his criminal past," the police said.The investigation revealed that. The meetings with Iranian agents were held in hotels and apartments around the world, which were "used for secret Iranian activity," the police added.The ex-minister is suspected of providing Iran withSegev was a member of Knesset (parliament) from 1992 to 1996, combining parliamentary activity with the post of the minister of energy and infrastructure.
Israel charges former energy minister Gonen Segev with spying for Iran. Segev is in custody; he was extradited from Equatorial Guinea.