January 25, 2019
A former Israeli cabinet minister charged with spying for Iran has negotiated a plea bargain with prosecutors to limit his time in prison to 11 years.
Gonen Segev was accused of “aggravated espionage,” as well as assisting the enemy in wartime, attempted aggravated espionage, and dozens of counts of attempting to provide information to the enemy.
He allegedly met with Iranian intelligence officials repeatedly over the past six years before his arrest in May.
Segev was arrested in May and extradited from Equatorial Guinea to Israel. He had been living in Nigeria since being released from prison in 2007 after a drug smuggling conviction.
In July, prosecutors released a full charge sheet, though many details of charges against Segev were redacted.
Permission was later given to publish the fact that serious charges had been brought against Segev. It emerged then that he had tried to meet with graduates of the Israel defense establishment, experts in fields such as security and infrastructure, and to lure them to do business in Nigeria.
In coordination with the Iranians, he allegedly offered them the chance to meet with individuals closely connected to the Nigerian authorities, who were in fact people from Iran, according to Hadashot.
Israelis who smelled a rat reported their suspicions to the Israeli security services, and thus began the probe that led to Segev’s arrest.
According to the heavily redacted indictment, he allegedly met with Iranian intelligence officials repeatedly over the past six years, including twice in Tehran, having traveled to the Islamic Republic on a non-Israeli passport, according to the Shin Bet security service.
In addition to allegedly supplying the Iranians with information, the prosecution also said that Segev “carried out various missions when he was asked.” The details of those “missions” were redacted.
The charge sheet said: “The defendant gave the Iranians secret information with the intention of harming state security. Among other things, the information included the location of security installations, the names of security personnel, and more. The accused also gave the Iranians dozens of pieces of information in order to harm state security.”
Segev, through his attorneys, has denied that he worked against the interests of Israel, saying that he was trying to act as a double agent against Iran, in the hope of returning to the Jewish state as a hero.
Segev, 62, was Israel’s minister of energy in 1995-96. He famously broke with his far right party to vote for the Oslo II peace agreement with the Palestinians, providing the margin of victory for Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin.
In Tehran last August, Iran’s intelligence minister boasted on state television about how Iran had recruited a former cabinet minister in a “hostile” country, obviously referring to Segev, although he did not name him. The comment astounded intelligence specialists all around the world, since spies are never publicly identified when they are alive. The boastful comment left Segev exposed and could well discourage other foreigners from working for Iran.