Israel's "Prisoner X" Was An Australian Ex-pat Who Died In Custody

[panopticon]

The following few posts I'm going to make are directly from the Australian Broadcasting Commissions website and relate to a story that doesn't seem to have been mentioned at Avalon as of yet.

• A prisoner in Israeli custody, in 2010, committed suicide within a hermetically sealed cell.
• His identity was never released before or after his death.
• There was a gag order placed on the Israeli media to stop any information about his imprisonment or subsequent suicide being released.
• The ABC reports that the prisoner was an Australian national living in Israel.
• It is alleged that he was working for Mossad and "something went terribly wrong".

This is big news in Australia and evidently Netanyahu and Lieberman are not impressed that the story is getting any air-time. Not to mention that Israeli MP's are asking questions in Parliament about the case following the airing of the ABC report.

The Foreign Correspondent report is available online here (though I don't know if it works outside of Australia):
http://www.abc.net.au/iview/#/program/30989

Anyway, here are the articles.
Kind Regards,
Panopticon

*Update*

Thank you to Limor for finding a version of the Foreign Correspondant report on Youtube:

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=1HMN7UmOy18

[panopticon]

Australian suspected of Mossad links dies in Israeli jail
By Trevor Bormann (12th February 2013)

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=3FcAEtv8bHE

Evidence has been unearthed that strongly suggests Israel's infamous Prisoner X, who was jailed under extraordinary circumstances in 2010, was an Australian national from Melbourne.

Investigations by the ABC's Foreign Correspondent program have revealed Ben 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.

His body was flown to Melbourne for burial a week later.

The death goes part of the way to explain the existence in Israel of a so-called Prisoner X, widely speculated in local and international media as an inmate whose presence has been acknowledged by neither the jail system nor the government.

The case is regarded as one of the most sensitive secrets of Israel's intelligence community, with the government going to extraordinary lengths to stifle media coverage and gag attempts by human rights organisations to expose the situation.

The Prisoner X cell is a jail within a jail at Ayalon Prison in the city of Ramla. It was built for the assassin of Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin.

The ABC understands Mr Zygier became its occupant in early 2010. His incarceration was so secret that it is claimed not even guards knew his identity.

Israeli media at the time reported that this Prisoner X received no visitors and lived hermetically sealed from the outside world.

When an Israeli news website reported that the prisoner died in his cell in December 2010, Israeli authorities removed its web pages.

An Israeli court order prohibiting any publication or public discussion of the matter is still in force; Israel's internal security service, Shin Bet, has effectively blocked any coverage of the matter.

Secret imprisonment

Foreign Correspondent can reveal that Mr Zygier 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.

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.

At the time, human rights organisation Association for Civil Rights in Israel criticised the imprisonment and wrote to Israel's attorney-general.

"It's alarming that there's a prisoner being held incommunicado and we know nothing about him," wrote the association's chief legal counsel Dan Yakir.

The assistant to the attorney-general wrote back: "The current gag order is vital for preventing a serious breach of the state's security, so we cannot elaborate about this affair."

Contacted by the ABC, Mr Yakir would not comment on the case, quoting a court order gagging discussion.

Bill van Esveld, a Jerusalem-based advocate for Human Rights Watch, has described the secret imprisonment of Prisoner X as "inexcusable".

"It's called a disappearance, and a disappearance is not only a violation of that person's due process rights - that's a crime," he told Foreign Correspondent.

"Under international law, the people responsible for that kind of treatment actually need to be criminally prosecuted themselves."

Mr 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.

His body was retrieved and flown to Melbourne. He was buried in Chevra Kadisha Jewish cemetery in the suburb of Springvale on December 22, seven days after his death.

Mr Zygier's family has declined to speak to the ABC, and friends and acquaintances approached by Foreign Correspondent in Melbourne have also refused to comment.

Mossad Activity

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=RUFVIca3Z9g

Australia's domestic intelligence agency ASIO has long scrutinised Australian Jews suspected of working for Mossad.

The agency believes Mossad recruits change their names from European and Jewish names to "Anglo" names. They then take out new passports and travel to the Arab world and Iran, to destinations Israeli passport holders cannot venture.

Warren Reed, a former intelligence operative for Australia's overseas spy agency ASIS, told Foreign Correspondent that Australians were ideal recruits for Mossad.

"Australians abroad are generally seen to be fairly innocent," he said.

"It's a clean country - it has a good image like New Zealand.

"There aren't many countries like that, so our nationality and anything connected with it can be very useful in intelligence work."

The Department of Foreign Affairs has confirmed that Mr Zygier also carried an Australian passport bearing the name Ben Allen.

'Allegations troubling'

When told details of Foreign Correspondent's investigation, Foreign Minister Bob Carr said he was concerned by the claims.

"Those allegations certainly do trouble me," Senator Carr said.

"It's never been raised with me. I'm not reluctant to seek an explanation from the Israeli government about what happened to Mr Allen and about what their view of it is.

"The difficulty is I'm advised we've had no contact with his family [and] there's been no request for consular assistance during the period it's alleged he was in prison."

Senator Carr says in the absence of a complaint by Mr Zygier's family, there is little for the Australian Government to act upon.

International conventions spell out that when a foreigner is jailed or dies, their diplomatic mission must be informed.

Senator Carr claims Australian diplomats in Israel only knew of Mr Zygier's incarceration after his death.

Mr van Esveld says it is inexcusable for the Australian Government not to be notified.

"The obligation of one country to notify another when the other citizen has been arrested, detained, especially if they die - that is so basic. It is called customary law," he said.

"Which means that even if Israel didn't ratify a treaty saying it has to notify the other country, it still has to do so because that is such a basic norm of interstate relations."

The greater mystery is why Mr Zygier was imprisoned under such secrecy.

Sources with connections to Israel's intelligence community have told Foreign Correspondent his predicament would have been "extreme" to warrant such harsh treatment.

Former ASIS operative Mr Reed told the ABC: "However the transgression came about, it would have to be involved with espionage, treachery - very, very sensitive information that known to others would pose an immediate threat to Israel as a nation state."

Source.

[panopticon]

Family tight-lipped on Israeli 'Prisoner X' case

The Australian uncle of a suspected Mossad agent found dead inside a super-secret Israeli jail cell has told the ABC the case is a "tragedy", but would not shed any light on whether the dead man was Israel's infamous 'Prisoner X'.

Israeli censors have banned reports of an ABC Foreign Correspondent exclusive into the case of Melbourne man Ben Zygier - aka Ben Alon or Ben Allen - who was found dead in a high-security cell at a prison near Tel Aviv in late 2010.

The evidence suggests Zygier was 'Prisoner X', who Israeli and international media have speculated was an inmate whose presence was not acknowledged by the jail system or the government.

Zygier's arrest and jailing in Israel remains a mystery, but the ABC understands he had been recruited by spy agency Mossad.

It is understood he "disappeared" in early 2010, spending several months in the Prisoner X cell at Ayalon Prison in the city of Ramla before being found dead.

A former operative with Australia's overseas spy agency ASIS has told the ABC that Zygier's transgression would have to have been involved with "espionage, treachery - very, very sensitive information that, known to others, would pose an immediate threat to Israel as a nation state."

This morning Zygier's musician uncle Willy Zygier, who is the partner of Melbourne singer Deborah Conway, told ABC Local Radio in Melbourne that he had "no idea what is true, what isn't true."

"All I know is there's a family tragedy. Every suicide is a tragedy. That's all I've got to say," he said.

"I don't know what else to say. There's nothing else to say.

"Ben's parents are in mourning. I don't know if they'll talk. And I'm a humble musician. I don't know anything."

Zygier's family has previously declined to speak to the ABC, and friends and acquaintances approached by Foreign Correspondent in Melbourne had also refused to comment.

Coverage stifled

The Prisoner X case is regarded as one of the most sensitive secrets of Israel's intelligence community, with the government going to extraordinary lengths to stifle media coverage and gag attempts by human rights organisations to expose the situation.

When an Israeli news website reported that the prisoner died in his cell in December 2010, Israeli authorities removed its web pages.

Within hours of the Foreign Correspondent report going to air, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office summoned Israeli editors to ask them not to publish a story "that is very embarrassing to a certain government agency", Israel's Haaretz newspaper said.

"The emergency meeting was called following a broadcast outside Israel regarding the incident in question."

Shortly afterwards, references to the ABC report vanished from Israeli news sites, including that of Haaretz itself.

Such a gag order is highly unusual in Israel, where state military censors normally allow local media to quote foreign sources on controversial incidents - such as an alleged attack on Syria last month by the Israeli air force.

Members of the Israeli parliament in Jerusalem asked justice minister Yaakov Neeman to confirm if the report was true, and demanded to know if other prisoners were being held in secret.

"This matter is not within the jurisdiction of the justice ministry," Mr Neeman responded.

"There is no doubt that if this information is accurate, this is something that ought to be checked."

The state censors allowed news outlets in Israel to report the parliamentary debate, but nothing else.

Secret imprisonment

Foreign Correspondent said Zygier 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.

At the time of his disappearance, the Association for Civil Rights in Israel criticised the imprisonment and wrote to Israel's attorney-general.

"It's alarming that there's a prisoner being held incommunicado and we know nothing about him," wrote the association's chief legal counsel Dan Yakir.

The assistant to the attorney-general wrote back: "The current gag order is vital for preventing a serious breach of the state's security, so we cannot elaborate about this affair."

Contacted by the ABC, Mr Yakir would not comment on the case, quoting a court order gagging discussion.

Bill van Esveld, a Jerusalem-based advocate for Human Rights Watch, has described the secret imprisonment of Prisoner X as "inexcusable".

"It's called a disappearance, and a disappearance is not only a violation of that person's due process rights - that's a crime," he told Foreign Correspondent.

"Under international law, the people responsible for that kind of treatment actually need to be criminally prosecuted themselves."

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.

His body was retrieved and flown to Melbourne. He was buried in Chevra Kadisha Jewish cemetery in the suburb of Springvale on December 22, seven days after his death.

Zygier's family has declined to speak to the ABC, and friends and acquaintances approached by Foreign Correspondent in Melbourne have also refused to comment.

'Ideal recruits'

Australia's domestic intelligence agency ASIO has long scrutinised Australian Jews suspected of working for Mossad.

The agency believes Mossad recruits change their names from European and Jewish names to "Anglo" names.

They then take out new passports and travel to the Arab world and Iran, to destinations Israeli passport holders cannot venture.

Warren Reed, a former intelligence operative for Australia's overseas spy agency ASIS, told Foreign Correspondent that Australians were ideal recruits for Mossad.

"Australians abroad are generally seen to be fairly innocent," he said.

"It's a clean country - it has a good image like New Zealand.

"There aren't many countries like that, so our nationality and anything connected with it can be very useful in intelligence work."

The Department of Foreign Affairs has confirmed that Zygier also carried an Australian passport bearing the name Ben Allen.

When told details of Foreign Correspondent's investigation, Foreign Minister Bob Carr said he was concerned by the claims.

"Those allegations certainly do trouble me," Senator Carr said.

"It's never been raised with me. I'm not reluctant to seek an explanation from the Israeli government about what happened to Mr Allen and about what their view of it is.

"The difficulty is I'm advised we've had no contact with his family [and] there's been no request for consular assistance during the period it's alleged he was in prison."

But he said that in the absence of a complaint by Zygier's family, there was little for the Australian Government to act upon.

Shadow foreign affairs minister Julie Bishop said she was seeking detail about the case and was disturbed by reports that the Israeli government is censoring the reports.

"That's a matter that I'll raise directly with the Israeli embassy to get an understanding of the basis for it," she said.

"If there are security considerations I can understand it, but if it's just about embarrassing a government agency, then that certainly requires an explanation and I'll be seeking one."

International conventions spell out that when a foreigner is jailed or dies, their diplomatic mission must be informed.

Senator Carr said Australian diplomats in Israel only knew of Mr Zygier's incarceration after his death.

Mr van Esveld said it was inexcusable for the Australian Government not to be notified.

"The obligation of one country to notify another when the other citizen has been arrested, detained, especially if they die - that is so basic. It is called customary law," he said.

"Which means that even if Israel didn't ratify a treaty saying it has to notify the other country, it still has to do so because that is such a basic norm of interstate relations."

The greater mystery is why Zygier was imprisoned under such secrecy.

Sources with connections to Israel's intelligence community have told Foreign Correspondent his predicament would have been "extreme" to warrant such harsh treatment.

Former ASIS operative Mr Reed told the ABC: "However the transgression came about, it would have to be involved with espionage, treachery - very, very sensitive information that, known to others, would pose an immediate threat to Israel as a nation state."

The Israeli embassy in Canberra has declined to comment.

Source.

[panopticon]

DFAT knew of Australian's detention in Israel
By chief political correspondent Simon Cullen, staff and wires 13th February 2013

Foreign Affairs Minister Bob Carr has confirmed his department was made aware in 2010 that an Australian man, believed to be Prisoner X, was being held in a super-secret Israeli jail.

The ABC's Foreign Correspondent program last night revealed the likely identity of Prisoner X as Melbourne man Ben Zygier - aka Ben Alon or Ben Allen - who was found dead in a prison near Tel Aviv in late 2010.

A spokeswoman for Senator Carr says the Minister was initially advised that the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFAT) was unaware of Mr Zygier's detention.

"DFAT has now advised that some officers of the department were made aware of Mr Allen's detention at the time in 2010 by another Australian agency," the spokeswoman said in a statement.

"Minister Carr has asked department secretary, Mr Peter Varghese, to review the handling of this consular case."

Mr Zygier's arrest and jailing in Israel remains a mystery, but the ABC understands he had been recruited by spy agency Mossad.

It is understood he "disappeared" in early 2010, spending several months in the Prisoner X cell at Ayalon Prison in the city of Ramla before being found dead.

Censorship lifted

The Prisoner X case is regarded as one of the most sensitive secrets of Israel's intelligence community, with the government going to extraordinary lengths to stifle media coverage and gag attempts by human rights organisations to expose the situation.

But Israeli MPs and commentators are now asking tough questions about the mysterious detention and apparent suicide of Prisoner X, following the ABC's report.

Twenty-four hours after Foreign Correspondent broke the story, the Israeli censor moved to ease the total blackout on coverage of the incident, allowing the local press to publish details from the report.

On Tuesday Israeli media reported that prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu had called an urgent meeting with the country's top editors to ask them to cooperate by "withholding publication of information pertaining to an incident that is very embarrassing to a certain government agency," Haaretz newspaper said, in a clear allusion to Mossad.

But shortly afterwards, three MPs raised questions over the issue in parliament, effectively sidestepping the censor in a move which forced a slight easing of the reporting restrictions.

Although the Israeli press can now quote foreign media on details of the case, the restrictions bar any original reporting on the incident, a spokesman for the censor's office said.

"It is now possible to report what foreign sources are saying about this story," a spokesman told AFP, saying the main blackout was still in place.

"It is based on a court order from 2010 and covers anything which could indicate the reason for his arrest."

Further questions are expected to be raised in Israel's parliament on Wednesday (local time) with outgoing internal security minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch likely to be in the spotlight.

But former foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman attacked the MPs for using their parliamentary immunity to get around the censor.

"Once again, certain MPs don't hesitate to identify with the enemy and take advantage of their parliamentary immunity to violate censorship," he said in an interview on Israel's army radio.

Seeking explanation

Israel's embassy in Canberra has declined to comment, although its ambassador today met Opposition foreign affairs spokeswoman Julie Bishop for a pre-arranged meeting.

Speaking before the meeting, Ms Bishop said she would be raising the case with the ambassador and was concerned the Israeli government was censoring media reports.

"That's a matter that I'll raise directly with the Israeli embassy to get an understanding of the basis for it," she said.

"If there are security considerations I can understand it, but if it's just about embarrassing a government agency, then that certainly requires an explanation and I'll be seeking one."

A spokesman for Ms Bishop says the ambassador undertook to pass on her concerns to "relevant authorities" in Israel.

This morning, Mr Zygier's musician uncle Willy Zygier, who is the partner of Melbourne singer Deborah Conway, told ABC Local Radio in Melbourne that he had "no idea what is true, what isn't true".

"All I know is there's a family tragedy. Every suicide is a tragedy. That's all I've got to say," he said.

Mr Zygier's family has previously declined to speak to the ABC, and friends and acquaintances approached by Foreign Correspondent in Melbourne had also refused to comment.

Source.

[panopticon]

Questions asked in Knesset over Aussie prisoner X

Prisoner X was an inmate who died in a high security cell in a high security jail in Israel in 2010. The Foreign Correspondent program has revealed he was Australian, prompting two Israeli MPs to question the Israeli justice minister over his death. But the Israeli state has gone to extraordinary measures to wipe out his identity and it's suspected he was a Mossad agent.

Audio Available Here.

Transcript.

TONY EASTLEY: For years he was known as Prisoner X - an isolated inmate of a high security prison enclosed within the walls of another high security jail in Israel.

The Israeli state went to extraordinary measures to wipe out all identification of the young man - who he was, what he'd done and where he was from.

Last night the Foreign Correspondent program revealed that Prisoner X, who apparently hanged himself in his high-tech, highly monitored jail cell in 2010, was an Australian.

Overnight two Israeli MPs questioned the justice minister in parliament over reports about the mysterious death of the Australian suspected of being a Mossad agent. None of the questions was answered adequately.

Here's Foreign Correspondent's Trevor Bormann:

TREVOR BORMANN: It's been a state secret in Israel for more than two years, the case that absolutely no-one could talk about. Who was the mysterious so-called Prisoner X in Ayalon maximum security prison - a man whose incarceration was so under wraps that not even guards apparently knew who he was or what he was accused of?

When news leaked in December 2010 that Prisoner X had died in his cell, Israeli security officials reinforced a court gag order and even hinting that the order existed was banned.

The Foreign Correspondent program has aired evidence that the secret prisoner was a Melbourne Jewish man by the name of Ben Zygier who lived in Israel for 10 years before his death in 2010.

My understanding is that Mr Zygier worked for the Israeli spy agency Mossad. But something went awry and he found himself in jail under extraordinary secrecy and security.

Warren Reed is a former intelligence operative from Australia's overseas spy agency ASIS.

WARREN REED: Hermetically sealing him away in all human terms, even within the prison, from his society, his family - that suggests that it has to be something very, very touchy and very immediate. Otherwise you wouldn't go to those lengths.

TREVOR BORMANN: The Foreign Correspondent investigation revealed that having moved to Israel, Ben Zygier changed his name to Ben Alon and the Department of Foreign Affairs has also confirmed he had a passport in the name Ben Allen.

In recent years ASIO has taken a close interest in Australian Jews changing their names from European or Jewish names to Anglo names and then with new Australian passports travelling the world working for Mossad.

Foreign Minister Senator Bob Carr claims Australian diplomats in Tel Aviv knew nothing of this man's imprisonment until he died and that consular advice was not sought by his family.

The Foreign Minister says he's concerned at suggestions the man was jailed in secret, apparently taking his own life in a high-tech cell designed to prevent suicide.

BOB CARR: Those allegations certainly do trouble me on the face of it. I know nothing about this case. It's never been raised with me and I'm not reluctant to seek an explanation from the Israeli government about what happened to Mr Allen and what their view of it is.

The difficulty is, I'm advised we've had no contact with his family. There's been no request for consular assistance during the period in which it's alleged he was imprisoned.

TREVOR BORMANN: The family of Ben Zygier, aka Ben Alon, aka Ben Allen did not participate in the Foreign Correspondent program and the Israeli embassy in Canberra has declined to comment. And with this man's very existence a state secret in Israel, we may never have an understanding of his tragic decline.

This is Trevor Bormann for AM.

Source.

[panopticon]

DFAT changes its mind on Zygier affair

The Department of Foreign Affairs has admitted it made a mistake when it informed Foreign Affairs Minister Bob Carr that the department didn't know about the detention of an Australian man by Israeli authorities. Ben Zygier, was arrested in early 2010 and found dead in his cell in December that year.

Audio Available Here.

Transcript.

TIM PALMER: First to the prisoner X story revealed on the ABC' Foreign Correspondent program and the Department of Foreign Affairs has admitted it made a mistake when it informed the Foreign Minister Bob Carr about its knowledge of the detention of an Australian man by Israeli authorities.

The man, Ben Zygier, was arrested in early 2010 and found dead in his cell in December of that year. On the advice of his department Mr Carr told the ABC Foreign Correspondent program that the Department only learnt of Mr Zygier's detention after his death.

But today the Minister was forced to correct that saying department staff in Israel were told of Mr Zygier's detention by another Australian agency a short time after he was incarcerated in the country's most high-security prison cell.

Details about the case are scant in part because the Israeli government had gagged the media there. Although that seems to have been lifted in the last few hours.

Will Ockenden reports.

WILL OCKENDEN: It's a mysterious case, involving intelligence agencies, multiple identities, diplomatic wrangling and now, U-turns and clarifications.

Last night, ABC TV's Foreign Correspondent program revealed evidence that an Australian citizen Ben Zygier was the man dubbed 'Prisoner X' was secretly and anonymously detained in Israel's most secure, technologically advanced prison. In late 2010 he was found dead in his cell.

Ben Zygier was also known as Ben Alon and Ben Allen. And because the Israeli media was gagged from reporting any details of the case, the nature of his arrest, imprisonment and death remains a mystery.

However the ABC understands he had been recruited by the Israeli spy agency Mossad.

Foreign Affairs Minister Bob Carr told Foreign Correspondent that the Government was unaware of Mr Zygier's detention.

BOB CARR: I'm assured that there was no record of contact between his family and the Australian embassy in Tel Aviv or DFAT (Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade) in Canberra. So, on my advice, the Australian Government was not informed of his detention by his family or by anyone else.

WILL OCKENDEN: But last this afternoon, the Department of Foreign Affairs changed the story. It revealed that people within the department were aware of his detention. This is the statement from the department.

STATEMENT FROM DEPARTMENT OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS AND TRADE: DFAT had advised that it was unaware of Mr Allen's detention in Israel. DFAT has now advised that some officers of the department were made aware of Mr Allen's detention at the time in 2010 by another Australian agency.

WILL OCKENDEN: That means top people in the department were aware of Mr Zygier's detention nearly 12 months before his death.

PM has asked the Department of Foreign Affairs whether consular assistance was offered to Mr Zygier and, if not, why not? PM also asked whether the department took steps to inform Mr Zygier's family of his detention.

The ABC understands that Foreign Affairs Minister Bob Carr has asked those same questions and others of the secretary of the Foreign Affairs Department, Mr Peter Varghese.

Minister Carr has also ordered the department secretary to review the handling of this consular case. The department heads will almost certainly be asked something similar again tomorrow when they come before the Senate Estimates committee.

The murky story has sent shockwaves through the Jewish community. Many Jewish leaders were unwilling to talk to PM, saying the story was a surprise. But Dr Jordy Silverstein from the Australian Jewish Democratic Society says the whole affair is deeply disturbing.

JORDY SILVERSTEIN: I think it's quite concerning if the Australian Government knew about it and wasn't able to act on behalf of Mr Zygier. I think that that would be the prime concern. Two governments were involved in some way in disappearing a person. I think there's a lot of information that's yet to come out.

Firstly, why he was imprisoned. We have no knowledge as far as I'm aware of why Mr Zygier was locked up, of how the circumstances in which he died. I think that's quite a large question mark, given the level of surveillance, in the prison that he was under, how he was able to commit suicide.

WILL OCKENDEN: She says the Jewish community in Melbourne is very upset and worried.

JORDY SILVERSTEIN: I mean we know that in Israel the information was highly suppressed. That there were court orders, you know, that court order couldn't even be mentioned of the suppression. Potentially it's linked to that.

Obviously the two governments have worked closely together at various times and have of course differed at previous times. And the passport fiasco a couple of years ago was an example of the two governments not working well together.

Because we don't know why he was imprisoned, it's really difficult to say why the Australian Government would not have taken stronger measures to get him released.

TIM PALMER: Dr Jordy Silverstein, the executive member of the Australian Jewish Democratic Society, ending Will Ockenden's report.

[Corncrake]

Apart from being very sad - particularly given the man's age and family situation - this is an intriguing story. What could be so vitally important to Israel to have warranted this totally secret and illegal incarceration? Do please post any more information you come across. Thanks.

[panopticon]

Right then, that's all I've got on this story.
Time will tell how this plays out but given the ongoing Middle East "unrest", the recent Israeli elections, Netanyahu's small majority and the news of a democratically elected government gagging newspapers from reporting might make this an interesting story to follow.
Kind Regards,
Panopticon

[Conchis]

Under the NDAA, it is possible that this story will be repeated in the US. We'll never know though, because these people just disappear and no one knows what to make of it. There is no body, no communication, no record. Habeas Corpus is designed to prevent this sort of thing, but with that suspended, there is no recourse. This is tragic and I feel for the people involved.

Once upon a time, I was studying with a psychiatrist who told me that lack of human interaction for an extended people results in death. He described a certain kind of "cell" where there were no reflective objects. Food was delivered through trap doors that never let the "prisoner" see it appear, when it appeared, where it came from. The only voice was the prisoners, but he never saw another human face, even his own. He told me that people could survive this way for a surprisingly short time. He said a matter of weeks and then they would simply die. Not suicide, they would simply sort of lose the will of living.

I was never able to verify these assertions, although it is clear that there is extreme psychological behavior that accompanies long-term "isolation." Those are not usually as extreme as the scenario he proposed though. The sort of confinement that apparently took place with this guy is the same sort that certain Max prisons in the US use and seem to me to be a form of torture.

I doubt that we will ever know the full details of this case.

[panopticon]

Posted by Corncrake (here)
Apart from being very sad - particularly given the man's age and family situation - this is an intriguing story. What could be so vitally important to Israel to have warranted this totally secret and illegal incarceration? Do please post any more information you come across. Thanks.

G'day Corncrake,

I agree, this is a very sad story and I feel for his family and friends who have to relive this event again.

There's all sorts of speculation as to what he did, who knew what and when they were or weren't notified. It's interesting cause it all seems to have been around the time of the passport scandal (Mossad operatives used fake Australia passports in an assassination) and that caused a lot of tension between Israel and Oz.

This is just one of those stories that appears one day and is gone the next (sometimes completely wiped from existence) so I thought I'd copy all the reports I'd come across and past them at Avalon. That way in a years time it can just be searched up for referencing.

As more becomes available I'll add it here and would encourage anyone else who comes across something about this to do the same. That way we can compare the different ways the story is reported over time and between nations.
Kind Regards,
Panopticon

[Limor Wolf]

Thank you, panopticon for bringing this news, I am following this story all morning (it is now afternoon time in Israel) It is advertised now on all the main news channels.
For those who find it difficult to read this leangthy explanation but would still like to stay updated, here is the 28 minutes of the Australian investigation on prisoner x as was broadcast yesterday by the Australian TV network ABC

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=1HMN7UmOy18

More to come

[Lifebringer]

so now they control what goes out of their country, and monitor what Americans are saying on their private lines?

Something very stenchy about having foreign dual citizenship controlling what Americans know. WE should not OURSOURCE our voices to be siphoned into a confusing road to nowhere, when answers on deaths in custody are warranted for justice. If Israel's leader, keeps it up, they'll be like Sadaam with NO ONE to speak up for their dispicable acts and covert murdering of people who find out their corruptive and corrosive dictatorship and torture.

I don't know how many times I have to say it, but it appears they demand support from US, while telling US to stowe it, when WE demand answers.

That will not work in the 21st century, and the people of the world will take a vote to end this tyrannical leader's murder and war sprees.

[Limor Wolf]

"We Knesset members are here to take care of the public interest – not to come between the public and the authorities and hide information, especially when this information is already published all over the world. " says Zehava Gal-On, one of a couple of Israel MP's who submitted queries to the Minister of Justice.

There are a lot of conflicting voices heard now on the Israeli media coverage of Mossad agent Mr x. the government tries to stop the constant preoccupation of the media in this case, Civil rights organizations however and the opposition to the government seek to investigate further and hear more details about the circumstances.

It is of a great importance for the public to demand and reveal cases such as that, where anonymous prisoners 'commit suicide' and nobody knows about their existence. to bring such cases to the light means to protest and to not allow a free hand for covert organizations to do what they want which is against the law and against civil human rights.

[Calz]

Just want to take a short moment to offer gratitude and appreciation to Limor for what she contributes here on some remarkably sensitive and volatile topics from that area.

So much disinformation and emotional triggers out there particularly within the controlled media.

[panopticon]

Posted by Limor (here)
Thank you, panopticon for bringing this news, I am following this story all morning (it is now afternoon time in Israel) It is advertised now on all the main news channels.
For those who find it difficult to read this leangthy explanation but would still like to stay updated, here is the 28 minutes of Australian research on the prisoner x as was broadcast yesterday by the Australian TV network ABC

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=1HMN7UmOy18

More to come

Thank you Limor for finding the video on Youtube. I looked last night but couldn't find a copy.
The original report makes it so much clearer for those who are trying to follow this story.
-- Pan

[panopticon]

Carr orders review into death
By John Kerin


Arab Israeli MP Ahmed Tibi, pictured, questioned Israeli’s Justice Minister about the death of an Australian prisoner. Photo: Reuters

Foreign Minister Bob Carr has ordered a review of his department’s handling of the case of Melbourne man Ben Zygier, who has been identified as Israel’s Prisoner X, a suspected former Mossad spy jailed without an open court hearing.

Senator Carr moved to correct previous statements – made after a report by the ABC’s Foreign Correspondent program – that the government knew nothing of the Zygier case until 2010 when he died and his relatives in Melbourne were notified.

The department has since told the minister some officials were aware much earlier. Department secretary Peter Varghese has initiated a review. The ABC report alleged Mr Zygier had been recruited by Mossad but details were kept strictly secret.

Mr Zygier is believe to have committed suicide at Ayalon Prison near Tel Aviv in December 2010.

Senator Carr said reports that Australians might work for Mossad were troubling. He warned that spying for another country using an Australian passport could breach half a dozen laws.

AAP reported two Israeli MPs questioned Justice Minister Yaakov Neeman over the ABC story in the Knesset. Mr Neeman said his ministry was not responsible for prisons but “if true, the matter must be looked into’’.

Source.

[Tangri]

All Jews are prison in Israel. Government and military are provoking and staging threats to continue their unquestionable acts.
In the name of protection they can torture their own and no one can question their methods and laws.
Same story as Americans , Russians, Chines, or N. Koreans.

[Corncrake]

I was catching up with my Twitter account this morning when I noticed that Tom Watson one of our UK Labour MP's and Deputy Chair of the Labour Party had tweeted about this case:

tom_watson ‏@tom_watson

This is an unbelievable story by ABC in Australia. "Australian suspected of Mossad links dies in Israeli jail": http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-02-1...ondent/4514806 …?

I don't want to deviate from the OP but I am rather more excited than I would be normally because Tom Watson is one of those politicians who actually gets things done! Not that I hold out much hope here but he was one of the main politicians to raise questions about the News of the World phone hacking scandal in parliament and, more recently, asked questions in parliament about paedophilia and child abuse which helped reignite the historic abuse case Operation Fernbank and Operation Fernridge. This is being covered in the 'How Jimmy was able to Fix it !!!' thread about Jimmy Saville elsewhere on the forum.

[panopticon]

Zygier 'close to spilling on Israel'
By Philip Dorling. February 15, 2013



AUSTRALIAN security officials suspect that Ben Zygier, the spy who died in a secret Israeli prison cell in 2010, may have been about to disclose information about Israeli intelligence operations, including the use of fraudulent Australian passports, either to the Australian government or to the media before he was arrested.

"[Zygier] may well have been about to blow the whistle, but he never got the chance," an Australian security official with knowledge of the case told Fairfax Media yesterday.

Sources in Canberra are insistent that the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) was not informed by its Israeli counterparts of the precise nature of the espionage allegations against Mr Zygier. However, it is understood that the former Melbourne law graduate had been in contact with Australian intelligence.

Israeli intelligence informed ASIO of his arrest and detention just eight days after authorities in Dubai had revealed that suspected Israeli agents had used fraudulent Australian passports in the assassination of a Palestinian militant leader.

The consequent crisis in Australian-Israeli intelligence relations provided the context in which the Australian diplomats did not seek consular access to Mr Ziegler, who was regarded by Australian security officials as being a potential whistleblower on Israeli intelligence operations.

Foreign Minister Bob Carr and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) on Thursday revealed that the Australian government first learnt of Mr Zygier's detention through ''intelligence channels'' on February 24, 2010.

"The Australian government was informed in February 2010 through intelligence channels that the Israeli authorities had detained a dual Australian-Israeli citizen - and they provided the name of the citizen - in relation to serious offences under Israeli national security legislation," Senator Carr told a Senate hearing.

Fairfax Media has been told by informed security sources that ASIO's liaison office in Tel Aviv was notified of Mr Zygier's detention by the Israeli domestic intelligence agency Shin Bet. It is understood that ASIO promptly notified the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade including the Australian ambassador to Israel, Andrea Faulkner.

An interim report to Senator Carr has reportedly advised that Australian intelligence agencies told DFAT officials about Mr Zygier's detention shortly after his arrest in February 2010, however officials were unclear when or whether then foreign minister Stephen Smith was briefed.

The office of Foreign Minister Carr declined to respond when asked on Thursday about the Australian government's precise knowledge of Israeli allegations about Mr Zygier and the reasons for his secret detention. A spokesperson for Senator Carr said that ''the government does not comment on intelligence matters''. So far as anyone knows, Mr Zygier was never charged or tried, despite being detained. As no request for consular assistance was made by Mr Zygier or his family, the matter was left to be dealt with through intelligence liaison channels. No consular contact was made with Mr Zygier, and Australian diplomats did not become involved in the matter until after his reported suicide in prison December 2010.

Mr Zygier's detention came at an increasingly tense time in Australian-Israeli relations.

On February 16, 2010, Dubai authorities publicly revealed that suspected Israeli agents had used Western passports in a covert operation that resulted in the assassination of Hamas leader Mahmoud Al-Mabhouh in the United Arab Emirates. The Dubai police investigators sought the co-operation of DFAT and Australian Federal Police which confirmed the fraudulent use of Australian passports.

News of the Israeli passport fraud caused a strong reaction from then prime minister Kevin Rudd. On February 25, according to a United States diplomatic cable published by WikiLeaks, DFAT told the US Embassy in Canberra that ''Australian officials are 'furious' all the way up the chain of command over the incident, and Prime Minister Rudd has vowed to get to the bottom of it.'' Foreign Minister Stephen Smith called a press conference to publicly announce that he had summoned Israel's Ambassador Yuri Rotem to seek an explanation from the Israeli Government. On February 27, three days after the Australian Government learned of Mr Zygier's detention, Fairfax Media reported that at least three Australian-Israeli dual citizens had been under investigation by ASIO in relation to alleged Israeli espionage activity while using Australian passports. One of those people, not named by Fairfax Media at the time, was Mr Zygier. It was not suggested that the Australians under ASIO investigation were linked to the Dubai assassination.

Australia's embassy in Tel Aviv had already complained to Israeli authorities about the passport abuse.

Australian Federal Police investigators subsequently travelled to Israel to pursue the Dubai passport fraud case, and that was followed by a visit to Tel Aviv by ASIO Director-General David Irvine, who met with Israeli intelligence chiefs. Mr Irvine subsequently provided a classified report to the government on the issue.

However security sources have told Fairfax Media that the ASIO Director-General did not raise the case of Mr Zygier.

Senator Carr yesterday told a Senate hearing that the Australian government sought ''specific assurances'' that Mr Zygier's legal rights would be respected and that ''the Israeli government responded that the individual would be treated in accordance with his lawful rights as an Israeli citizen. The government relied on these assurances.'' DFAT yesterday declined to provide details of these exchanges.

On May 24, 2010, Foreign Minister Smith told Federal Parliament that the Australian Government was ''in no doubt that Israel was responsible for the abuse and counterfeiting of [Australian] passports''' in Dubai and announced that a senior unnamed Israeli diplomat was being expelled.

The expelled diplomat, given one week to leave Australia was Israeli Embassy counsellor Eli Elkoubi, an officer of the Israeli foreign intelligence service, Mossad. Israeli diplomats complained privately after Mr Elkoubi's name and status as an intelligence officer was published in The Canberra Times in June 2010. Although the Australian Government did not deliberately reveal Mr Elkoubi's status as a Mossad officer, the Israelis believed the disclosure of his name and role was a further act of retaliation.

Security sources have told Fairfax Media that the consequent freeze of Australian -Israeli intelligence cooperation meant that Zygier's case wasn't pursued further by either ASIO or the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade before his death while in secret detention in December 2010.

Source.

[panopticon]

Doubts over Prisoner X suicide claims
By Hayden Cooper 14th February 2013.

It is a tragic tale of intrigue and espionage stretching from the Middle East to Melbourne, but new light has now been shed on what may have led to the death of Prisoner X.

Tuesday's Foreign Correspondent investigation prised open the case of Prisoner X, a man now understood to be an agent of Mossad - Israel's notorious intelligence agency - and who was also an Australian.

Ben Zygier, 34, allegedly killed himself in a top secret, supposedly suicide-proof Israeli prison cell in 2010. He was accused of espionage and treason.

There are now claims his arrest may have had something to do with the assassination of a top Hamas official in 2010 and the Australian passport scandal in the same year.

Doubts have also been cast over whether he took his own life.

One of his Israeli lawyers who met him just days before his death says he gave no indication he was going to commit suicide.

"When I saw him, there was nothing to indicate he was going to commit suicide," said Avigdor Feldman, a top human rights lawyer.

In an interview with Israel's army radio, Mr Feldman said he had met Prisoner X to offer him advice ahead of his trial.

"His family asked that I meet him to advise him. The trial hadn't properly started yet," he said, indicating the prisoner had already been indicted and that talks were under way with senior prosecutors to reach a plea bargain.

"He asked for advice and I sat and listened to him. Not that I'm a psychologist, but he appeared rational, focused, he spoke clearly about the issue and didn't exude any sense of self-pity."

A day or two later, Mr Feldman's liaison at the prison rang him to say the prisoner had died.

The lawyer admitted he was surprised "that a man who was being held in a cell like that, a cell which was being monitored and checked 24-hours a day, could manage to commit suicide by hanging himself."

Mr Feldman, who said he knew the prisoner's real name and had access to the file on his arrest but was unable to give any details for legal reasons, said it was clear the detainee was facing a very long jail term.

"I understood that he was told he was likely to face the longest possible jail term and that he was likely to be ostracised by his family," he said.

Back in Melbourne, Zygier family friend Henry Greener also doubts the official suicide story.

"He had everything to live for and that's why the death being noted as suicide comes as a great surprise to us all," he said.

"He would be the last person on earth that I would guess would take his own life, especially being in a high security prison where there's nothing to hang from."

Mr Zygier came from a prominent Jewish family in Melbourne.

In the 1990s he studied law at Monash University, before moving to Israel in his 20s, where he did military service and married.

After several years, he returned to Melbourne and went back to Monash to study an MBA.

By then, reports say he was already working for Mossad.

Mr Greener, who presents a Jewish program on Melbourne community television and has known the Zygier family since before Ben was born, says Ben had a good family life.

"He matured beautifully, he was very happy, he was in a relationship and married and having children," he said.

"He seemed to be really happy living in Israel, loved living there. He had a social conscience and for him it was important to be living there because there are so many social issues in Israel."



But Mr Greener says neither he, nor the Zygier family, know what what happened in 2010.

"We didn't know anything about what happened to him except there were whispers about him being in Mossad and whispers about detention and something went horribly wrong," he said.

From his home in Seattle, author and blogger Richard Silverstein has been following the case.

"My understanding of what he was doing in Australia was he was going back a couple of times and getting new passports and different identities that they could use for other Mossad operations, he registered in an MBA at the Monash campus and he was seen with Saudi students and Iranian students so he might've been doing recruitment on campus," he said.

"That's relatively mundane, everyday activity that Mossad engages in."

Passport scandal

January 2010 was a delicate time for Mossad and for Australia-Israeli relations.

Australian passports had been used by Mossad agents sent to assassinate Mahmoud Al-Mabouh, a senior Hamas official, in Dubai.

Soon after - connected or not - Mr Zygier found himself in prison.

Mr Silverstein says Mr Zygier may have been caught up in the assassination operation.

"It's entirely possible he was involved in this operation in some capacity, it's also possible that the assassination itself may have turned him away from what Mossad was doing," he said.

"You can't really rule anything out."

Mr Greener agrees something went horribly wrong.

"Beginning of 2010, where there is the passport issue, the Dubai assassination that occurred and apparently Ben was put under suspicion as one of the people who might've been involved in that whole affair," he said.

Back in Canberra it seems Australian spies were watching.

ASIO had reportedly been investigating three Australian-Israeli citizens suspected of spying.

It was through ASIO that news of the jailing of Mr Zygier first reached Australian diplomats.

Since Tuesday's Foreign Correspondent report aired, Foreign Affairs Minister Bob Carr has sent mixed messages, first saying Australia knew nothing about the prisoner before his death.

But today it was revealed diplomats did know about his detention in February 2010, 10 months before the Australian killed himself in prison.

"When information is received through intelligence channels then obviously it doesn't find its way into your normal consular filing system and so when we were checking our consular files there was not that relevant information, we've since pieced more of it together," DFAT secretary Peter Varghese said.

'Crisis of conscience'

So what did this young Australian do that landed him in a high security Israeli prison?

Reports from the region suggest he was facing serious charges of espionage of helping Israel's enemies.

Mr Silverstein says there are several possibilities.

"If this was a betrayal of the state for financial reasons in which he was turned by another country's security intelligence services and went to work for another country for financial reasons or whatever reasons," he said.

"The other possibility which I'm more inclined to is there might've been a crisis of conscience of some kind, he might've been involved in activities he found repellent and he might've wanted to get out of the situation or blow the whistle on whatever he was engaged in."

Mr Greener has a similar theory.

"I think it was a very personal thing where Ben did something, it wasn't very well received by his superiors, he went into jail for it and unfortunately he didn't come out alive," he said.

In Israel, the Australian's detention and death have had virtually no coverage until now.

The government's gag order has been partially lifted.

An Israeli court statement sheds some light on the case, but not much.

"The inmate was registered under a false identity for security reasons, but his family was notified immediately upon his arrest," the statement reads.

"The president has submitted the case to the state prosecutor's office to examine aspects of negligence."

Mr Zygier's secret incarceration and death have also created a political uproar in Israel.

"Obscure prisoners kill themselves, no one knows about their existence. How is this on a par with a proper democracy, with a proper rule of law?" Israeli MP Zehava Galon has asked.

Three years since the saga began, the mystery of the young man's death is slowly unravelling for those who were close to him.

"Everybody loved Ben, he was considered to be a top boy, he always was," Mr Greener said.



Source.