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Canadian-Israeli prof. arrested on suspicion of spying for Hezbollah
A Canadian-Israeli professor has been held by Israeli authorities for 18 days without access to a lawyer, on suspicion of spying for Hezbollah and Iranian intelligence agents.  A gag order on the case was lifted Wednesday after Haaretz appealed to Nazareth Magistrates Court. Professor Ghazi Falah was arrested while touring the Rosh Hanikra area, on July 8, four days before the outbreak of the current conflict in Lebanon. He was approached by individuals who identified themselves as security officials, and who instructed him to stop photographing. Falah refused, and after an argument, was arrested. Falah, a professor of geography at the University of Akron, said he had taken the pictures as part of his acadmic research. Before Wednesday, Falah had not been permitted to speak to his lawyer, Hussein Abu Hussein. The police and the Shin Bet security service repeatedly refused to lift the gag order placed on this case, despite wide publicity in media sources in Canada, U.S., and Britain. According to security officials, Falah is suspected of "spying for hostile sources, with the goal of harming state security," apparently in reference to his alleged connections with Hezbollah and Iranian intelligence. They hinted that Falah was allegedly sent by these sources to photograph various locations, and to report where rockets have landed in Israel. Security officials said Falah was photographing a military antenna in Rosh Hanikra. He recently took a trip to Beirut, and two years before visited Iran. Posted by: Captain America 2006-07-27 |
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