Israel In Uproar Over Gag On ‘Prisoner X’
A furore has erupted in Israel over state secrecy rules gagging sensitive media reports after the government sought to quash news of the mysterious death of an Australian-born Israeli man in a top-security prison two years ago.
Opposition politicians are demanding that Benjamin Netanyahu’s government supply more information about the man’s imprisonment and death – of which few Israelis had known – and overhaul censorship rules they say are no longer fit in the internet age.
Bob Carr, Australia’s foreign minister, said he had been unaware of the death and would be pressing Israel for explanations.
This developed after Australia’s ABC television network on Tuesday aired a report saying that Melbourne-born Ben Zygier, who changed his name to Ben Alon after migrating to Israel, hanged himself in a solitary confinement cell in Ayalon prison, between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, in December 2010.
The network’s Foreign Correspondent programme cited an unnamed source who said Zygier worked for Israel’s Mossad spy agency. It ran a photograph of him obtained from a social media site and said he also carried an Australian passport bearing the name Ben Allen.
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