Prisoner X

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Prisoner X or Prisoner X is a placeholder name established by the media for prisoners whose names were not known at the beginning of the reporting. To date (as of January 2018), two inmates in Ajalon Prison in Ramla have been called this.

The Ben Zygier case

In 2010, the story attracted an unknown prisoner media attention, which in Ayalon Prison in Ramla in solitary confinement was imprisoned. The case was made public through a press article by the journalist Raanan Ben-Tzur; the existence of the inmate, initially only known as "Prisoner X", was initially kept under lock and key.

According to information from the Australian TV station ABC , the inmate's name was Ben Zygier (* December 9, 1976 - December 15, 2010) and comes from Melbourne , where he was also buried after his suicide . He left two children. The background to the imprisonment was still unclear when ABC Australia revealed the identity in February 2013, as was the cause of death. Israel announced an investigation. Australia demanded to see the recordings of the four surveillance cameras.

Ben Zygier had been an agent for the Israeli secret service Mossad since 2003 . First, he infiltrated companies in Europe that were in contact with Iran and Syria . In the summer of 2007 he was called back to Israel because he could not meet the expectations placed on his mission. In March, the German news magazine Der Spiegel revealed that Zygier had tried to recruit new sources on his own - presumably to rehabilitate himself for his failed mission. In the process, he accidentally came across a Hezbollah fan, who henceforth coaxed Zygier's secrets through a double game. As a result, the two Mossad agents Ziad al-Homsi and Mustafa Ali Awadeh were later exposed in Lebanon and sentenced to long prison terms.

According to official reports, inmate X hanged himself in his cell on December 15, 2010, although it was considered safe against suicides .

The second inmate X

In July 2013, security lawyer Avigdor Feldman, who was representing Zygier at the time, drew attention to another unknown inmate in the same prison. According to Feldman, it was also a Jewish-Israeli ex-secret service employee whose case, however, indicates "an even more serious failure by the authorities than in the Zygier case".

Israel's security minister Yitzchak Aharonovich told the media that there were no “hidden prisoners” and that the families of those affected had always been informed.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Ulrike Putz: Justice scandal in Israel: State secret about prisoner X. In: Spiegel Online . June 24, 2010. Retrieved January 9, 2017 .
  2. ↑ Death in the maximum security wing: Netanyahu fears openness in the prisoner affair. In: Spiegel Online . February 17, 2013, accessed January 9, 2017 .
  3. ↑ Agent affair: "Prisoner X" is said to have revealed Mossad secrets. In: Spiegel Online . February 18, 2013, accessed January 9, 2017 .
  4. ↑ Agent affair: The mysterious death of Israel's "Prisoner X". In: welt.de . February 13, 2013, accessed January 9, 2017 .
  5. ^ Judicial scandal in Israel: strangled inmate is said to have been a Mossad agent. In: Spiegel Online . February 12, 2013, accessed January 9, 2017 .
  6. ↑ Laura Rozen: The rise and fall of Mossad agent Ben Zygier. In: backchannel.al-monitor.com. March 25, 2013, accessed January 9, 2017 .
  7. ↑ Israel: Mossad agent revealed secrets to Hezbollah. In: Spiegel Online . March 24, 2013, accessed January 9, 2017 .
  8. ^ Ronen Bergman, Julia Amalia Heyer, Jason Koutsoukis, Ulrike Putz and Holger Stark: The spy in cell 15 . In: Der Spiegel . No. 13 , 2013 ( online ).
  9. ↑ Jason Koutsoukis: How life of spy Ben Zygier unraveled. In: brisbanetimes.com.au. March 25, 2013, accessed January 9, 2017 .
  10. ^ C. Binkley, Ap: This is how Ben Zygier became "Prisoner X". In: 20min.ch. Retrieved January 9, 2017 .
  11. ↑ Dario Venutti: Israel's state secret about prisoner X. In: tagesanzeiger.ch. February 12, 2013, accessed January 9, 2017 .
  12. ↑ Video: Post ABC Australia on YouTube
  13. ↑ a b jwi / DPA / AFP / Reuters / DPA / Reuters: Secretly locked away: Israel puzzles over new "inmate X". In: stern.de . July 11, 2013, accessed January 9, 2017 .
  14. ↑ Secret prisoners: Israel puzzles over second prisoner X. In: Spiegel Online . July 11, 2013, accessed January 9, 2017 .
  15. ^ Yolande Knell: Israel 'secretly holds second Prisoner X' in jail. In: bbc.co.uk. July 12, 2013, accessed January 9, 2017 .
  16. ↑ Israel: Second "Prisoner X" in Israeli prison. In: zeit.de . July 11, 2013, accessed January 9, 2017 .
  17. ↑ DPA-InfolineRS: Secret Services: Another "prisoner X" in Israel for years in solitary confinement. In: Focus Online . July 11, 2013, accessed January 9, 2017 .