For 5 years he worked for the Mossad, and then took his own life: Ben Zygier, also known as Prisoner X, according to a SPIEGEL investigation, sought followers of Hezbollah, betrayed secret information – with serious consequences, and then got caught.

By Der Spiegel staff

Ben Zygier, the Mossad agent who hanged himself in an Israeli jail cell on 15 December 2010, had apparently passed sensitive information before his death to the Hezbollah.  That in turn led to the arrest of several Lebanese informants who were watching the Hezbollah. This information is the results of an investigation, by the German news magazine SPIEGEL.

Jewish cemetery of Zygiers hometown of Melbourne Photo: REUTERS

Accordingly Zygier was responsible for the arrest of at least two agents in Lebanon. From the investigation it appears that Zygier, who was at the time of his death, 34 years old, was suspected to have passed on the names of two Lebanese men, Siad al-Homsi and Mustafa Ali Awadeh to a supporter of the Lebanese Shiite militia Hezbollah.

Homsi and Awadeh were arrested in May 2009 and convicted of spying for Israel and sentenced to long prison terms.

The Australian born Zygier began in late 2003 with the Mossad. He was sent to work for a European company doing business with Iran and Syria. But the Mossad agent was unable to acquire the information needed and was ordered to return to Israel in the summer of 2007.

In 2008,  Zygier was allowed to leave the Mossad and returned to his hometown of Melbourne to complete his university studies.

While on leave, and to redeem himself for his failures in Europe, Zygier, without authorization, traveled seeking to recruit Lebanese agents. Apparently, his recruit turned out to be a Hezbollah agent who in turn, succeeded in prying information from him.

It was this secret information that lead to the arrest of Homsis and Awadehs in Lebanon by the Hezbollah.

Subsequently Zygier was recalled to Israel, and as a result of an interview, Zygier was arrested, tried and imprisoned.

(translated by PP)

View original Der Spiegel publication at: http://www.spiegel.de/politik/ausland/mossad-agent-ben-zygier-verriet-geheimnisse-an-hisbollah-a-890618.html