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Al-Ahram Weekly 13 - 19 July 2000 Issue No. 490 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 13 - 19 July 2000 Issue No. 490
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Focus International Economy Opinion Interview Culture Features Travel Living Sports Profile People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters A squabble among friends
By Gamil Ibrahim
What's in a tiff between close friends? Switzerland and Israel have long enjoyed excellent working relations: they are good trading partners and they collaborate closely on political, military and economic matters. So it came as no big surprise when the verdict issued last weekend by the Swiss Federal Criminal Court in Lausanne against an Israeli spy working for the Mossad (Israel's intelligence agency) was little more than a symbolic slap on the wrist. The punishment, a one-year suspended sentence, was so mild that defence lawyers didn't even bother to appeal.
The light verdict was widely expected in view of warm Swiss-Israeli relations and reflects the traditionally strong ties between the two countries, particularly with regard to the military and intelligence. But for Abdallah Al-Zein, a Lebanese-born car dealer who heads the Ahl Al-Beit Association in Switzerland, the sentence made a mockery of his own violated rights. In February 1998, the Mossad agent -- known only by his pseudonym "Issac Bental" -- was caught red-handed attempting to install a wire-tapping device in Al-Zein's telephone line. Not surprisingly, Al-Zein was outraged by the verdict and his lawyers have announced that he will appeal.
There is no point, it seems, in catching Israeli spies in Switzerland -- they are bound to go free. The leniency accorded in Bental's case is almost laughable. The presiding judge, Hans WiprŠchtiger, allowed the Mossad agent to keep his true name secret, using his pseudonym instead. Although the wire-tapping devices would have been able to transmit Al-Zein's calls to a telephone in Geneva for years to come, Swiss authorities have neither disclosed the nature of these devices nor discussed the matter in public.
Bental, a short stocky man with dark brown hair and the son of Russian immigrants to Israel, was charged with political espionage, carrying out illegal acts on behalf of a foreign country and using forged papers to enter the country. He was found guilty on all three charges, but following his commuted sentence, he is now free to return to Israel and continue working for the Mossad.
Meanwhile, the trial did not touch on the other four suspected Mossad agents who were caught with Bental and curiously released shortly thereafter. Even though the court's verdict has ended inquiries into the case, police have yet to reveal their identities.
Police forces in the Liebefeld district on the outskirts of Bern received notification after midnight in February 1998 from a sleepless old lady complaining about strange voices emanating from the basement of her building. When police arrived, they found five people, one of whom confessed to having hammered the wall to install surveillance devices. He denied knowing the other four.
The four other suspects -- two men and two women -- in turn claimed that they had no relation to the self-confessed agent and that they had been making love. They were released after an interrogation later that night. All four carried Israeli passports and left Switzerland immediately. Bental admitted that he was working under orders from the Mossad and charged that Abdallah Al-Zein has "strong relations" with the Lebanese militant Shi'ite movement Hizbullah. Indeed, discussions about Hizbullah's alleged activities in Switzerland dominated the defence proceedings. At times it was unclear who exactly was on trial -- Bental or Al-Zein.
Senior Swiss police officials said that they believed Al-Zein has connections with Hizbullah, but they have no evidence to support their suspicions. To the chagrin of Arab residents in Switzerland, the defence quizzed Al-Zein as if he was the defendant and demanded to know the precise nature of his relationship with Hizbullah. Al-Zein, who protested loudly that he was not on trial, explained that Ahl Al-Beit was a charitable organisation, interested in religious and humanitarian matters, especially helping war orphans and other suffering Iraqi children. Ahl Al-Beit, he declared, has no affiliations with any Middle Eastern government or political group.
Undaunted, Bental's lawyers proceeded to inquire if Al-Zein had any direct dealings with Sadr Al-Din Fadlallah, a son of the godfather to Hizbullah Sheikh Mohamed Hassan Fadlallah and the director of the headquarters of Ahl Al-Beit Association. Al-Zein conceded that he did, saying he had met him only once in Paris.
Bental said in court that he did not mean to spy on the Swiss. All he did was obey instructions to spy on Al-Zein by installing equipment intended to monitor Al-Zein's telephone conversations. "I had a specific role ... to listen to what [Al-Zein] planned," Bental told the court. Bental also said that his Mossad handlers told him Al-Zein was responsible for terrorist activities in Israel.
Wipraechtiger maintains that the suspended sentence was not the result of any political pressure, noting that Switzerland's sovereignty had been violated by the bungled operation. Swiss Deputy Prosecutor Felix Baenziger added that Switzerland has "always done everything imaginable" to cooperate with the Mossad. The Israeli espionage agency, he said, "should have sought Swiss help, because that was the only legal way to carry out such surveillance."
