The Haifa District Court sentenced Arab writer Amir Mahoul to nine years in prison and one year´s suspended sentence Sunday for a number of offenses against national security. The sentence was part of a plea bargain. Mahoul is the brother of former Knesset member Issam Mahoul.

Makhoul was convicted of several very serious offenses, including contact with a foreign agent, conspiracy to aid the enemy in war, serious espionage and espionage. He admitted to passing on to Hizbullah information regarding security installations and military activity in Israel, and supplying names of Israeli citizens who could be recruited to the group. He relayed information regarding the location of a Mossad installation and the Nachshonim military base. He tried, unsuccessfully, to find out the address of the head of the Shin Bet, or Israel Security Agency.

"There is no need to waste words on Hizbullah, its role in the struggle against the existence of the state, and its will to hurt it and its citizens," the panel of judges wrote, noting that the Lebanese terror militia targets Israeli civilians indiscriminately, regardless of their religion or ethnicity.

"We are looking at a defendant who, by appointment, met a foreign agent of the Hizbullah organization in Copenhagen, allowed the installation of encryption software on his PC and as mentioned, committed crimes of espionage on at least 10 opportunities, encrypting and transmitting messages over a long period of time."

"The defendant is a man with extensive life experience and global connections; a man who not young, who is accustomed to participating in meetings and conferences worldwide, who enlists in the ranks of a terrorist organization that imperils the existence of the state and its citizens," the judges added.

Mahoul is a Christian Arab citizen of Israel. (© IsraelNN Syndications 01/30/11)