Former Israeli Minister Admits to Spying for Iran Gonen Segev served in cabinet in the mid-1990s; Israel accused him of being an active agent for Iran Dov Lieber
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TEL AVIV—A former Israeli minister pleaded guilty to spying for the country’s bitter enemy Iran and faces an 11-year prison sentence, in a case that has gripped the public as Israel tries to thwart Tehran’s attempts to entrench on its border.
Gonen Segev, a former energy and infrastructure minister, admitted to espionage and passing sensitive information to Iran, Israel’s Ministry of Justice said Wednesday. A plea deal was reached after a monthslong closed-door trial and Mr. Segev’s sentencing has been set for Feb. 11.
In May, Israeli authorities arrested Mr. Segev—who served in Yitzhak Rabin’s Labor-led government during the mid-1990s—and accused him of being an active agent for Iranian intelligence.
Israeli said Mr. Segev made contact with the Iranians through their embassy in Nigeria in 2012, and since then twice visited Iran. He was arrested after he attempted to enter Equatorial Guinea and was transferred to the Israeli police at their request.
Tensions between Israel and Iran have run high for many years. Israel accuses Iran of seeking its destruction, while Iran claims Israel has assassinated its scientists to stem Tehran’s nuclear program.
In recent years, however, this hostility has threatened to escalate as Iran helps its ally Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in a yearslong civil war in Israel’s neighborhood. Israel says Iran is using the conflict as a pretext to set up military bases on its border, and has regularly struck what it said were Iranian targets in Syria. The Israeli government says Iran has launched at least one direct attack against its territory from Syria. Tehran didn’t officially comment on that attack but says it is in Syria at the request of the Assad government.
In an indictment filed against Mr. Segev after his arrest in May, Israel’s Ministry of Justice said the former minister met with Iranian agents across the world, and provided his handlers with information regarding Israel’s energy economy, security sites as well as diplomatic and security personnel and buildings.
Mr. Segev maintained contacts with Israelis in the foreign affairs and security fields, and convinced some of them to meet with Iranian agents under the false premise that they were Iranian businessmen, according to the May indictment, which didn’t give a time frame.
Lawyers for the defense said the charges against their client had been changed to reflect the plea deal.
In an emailed statement, Mr. Segev’s legal team said that he did have contact with the Iranians but his motive didn’t equate to assisting the enemy in wartime, a charge which amounts to treason. That charge has now been removed from his indictment, the statement said.
A spokesman for Iran’s mission to the United Nations didn’t immediately return a request for comment.
Mr. Segev has run afoul of the law in the past.
In 2003, he was found guilty of credit card fraud after falsely claiming his credit card was used to withdraw money from ATMs in Hong Kong without his knowledge.
And in 2004, Mr. Segev was convicted of attempting to smuggle over 30,000 ecstasy tablets from Amsterdam into Israel. He used an expired diplomatic passport, which he tampered with, to evade customs agents. He was jailed until 2007 when he moved to Nigeria.
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