Army Officer Jailed Secretly 6 Years Ago as Spy, Israel Says
Israel admitted Wednesday that one of its army intelligence officers has been in prison for the past six years after being convicted at a secret trial of spying on the Jewish state.
The Supreme Court lifted a ban on reporting the jailing of Maj. Yosef Amit, but the country he had worked for remained secret.
The Maariv newspaper earlier Wednesday reported that Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin told Parliament law committee head Dedi Zucker that Israel is secretly holding several of its citizens for spying.
An army statement said Amit was sentenced after a secret trial in March, 1987, to 12 years in jail.
State media quoted 2-year-old U.S. reports that an unidentified Israeli officer had been jailed for spying for the United States. The reports said Israel had offered to trade him for Jonathan Pollard, a U.S. citizen jailed in America in 1986 for spying for Israel.
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