COURT EXTEND REMAND FOR ISRAELI ACCUSED OF SPYING FOR IRAN
TEL AVIV 19 Nov. (IPS) A Tel Aviv District Court decided Sunday to extend the remand of Mr. Mark Idan, an Israeli accused of trying to offer his services to the Iranian government until the end of legal proceedings against him.
Shin Bet security service and police detained the 37 years-old Idan at the end of October and was indicted by the state prosecution indicted Idan for alleged contacts with Iran.
Israeli security officials play down Idan's link to Iran, describing the affair as "unimportant", according to the liberal newspaper "Ha’aretz", as the text of the indictment, and information from sources close to the investigation, portray Idan as a drifter whose offer to spy for the Iranians was not even treated seriously by his handlers.
Idan's attorney told the paper that Idan's actions in Cyprus were "a hasty, impulsive act that was the result of personal problems and distress and not from ideological or political motives".
But though the indictment charges Idan on a relatively light count of "attempting to contact a foreign agent", the prosecutors say, "the defendant's actions were serious enough to endanger state security".
Idan travelled to Cyprus in 1999, partly to arrange a divorce. In Nicosia, he turned up on the doorstep of the Iranian embassy and offered a clerk his Australian passport with a note inserted in it saying "I am an Israeli soldier, and want to work for your government".
The embassy clerk photocopied Idan's passport and told him an official was being assigned to handle his case and would be available in a few days.
Three days later Idan went to the embassy and was given a note with the name of the handler and a direct phone number to the embassy. Idan agreed to call the number and said he would use the name "David."
The Attorney General says the suspect's use of an alias shows "he was aware of the criminal nature of his actions."
After several days Idan called the number and using his alias, only to be told by the "handler" that his superiors were "not interested" in Idan's offer.
Born a Catholic in Italy and grew up in Australia, Idan arrived in Israel in 1987 and became an Israeli by marriage became a citizen and got a permanent resident. He has worked at a number of jobs in Israel, mostly on the kibbutz, and abroad. Idan did abbreviated service in the Israel Defence Forces' infantry and tanks corps, and occasionally in the reserves, the paper said. ENDS TRIAL ISRAELI IRAN SPY 191101