Australia to probe mysterious ’10 Israel death of ‘Prisoner X’

— Australia’s foreign minister Wednesday ordered an investigation into his government’s handling of the 2010 detention and death of an Australian immigrant to Israel who was known as Prisoner X and potentially was a spy, as Israel partially lifted a gag order that had prevented local journalists from reporting about the case.

An Australian news station reported Tuesday that Prisoner X was Ben Zygier - known in Israel as Ben Alon - a 34-year-old father of two who had been in Israel for a decade before he was found hanged in a top-security prison cell where he had apparently been held secretly and denied visitors and a lawyer.

Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade originally said in a statementearly Wednesday that its embassy in Tel Aviv was unaware of Zygier’s situation until his family requested repatriation of his remains. A few hours later, another statement acknowledged that “some officers of the department were made aware” of his imprisonment beforehand “by another Australian agency.” The inquiry is into “the consular handling of this case,” according to the statement, with apreliminary report expected today.

In Israel, members of Parliament and others called for inquiries into the mysterious case and the extraordinary secrecy surrounding it, including a court order that had forced the removal of news items from Israeli websites in 2010 and again Tuesday. Israeli journalists and politicians had protested that the media blackout was unreasonable in the Internet age, as the Australian news report circulated on social media, and on Wednesday, it was modified to allow local publication of articles based on foreign reports.

Israeli websites quickly filled with photographs of Zygier and his grave in a Jewish cemetery in a Melbourne suburb. The prime minister’s office declined to discuss the case or the censorship of it.

Front Section, Pages 6 on 02/14/2013

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