A Ramallah physician, arrested last week on suspicion that he was an agent for the KGB, was identified today as Dr. Gohar el-Sayedj, 35, who practices medicine at the Augusta Victoria Hospital on Mt. Scopus. El-Sayedj attended medical school in the USSR between 1966-1973 during which time he met and married his wife, Marina, 34, who is a Soviet citizen.
He was in the Soviet Union again between 1975-1977 to qualify as a surgeon. During his sojourns there he is alleged to have been recruited by the KGB –the Soviet secret police – and assigned to intelligence gathering missions in the Middle East. According to Israeli security sources, the suspect transmitted information to Moscow via the KGB representative at the Soviet Embassy in Amman, Jordan where he frequently visited. A search of his home yielded certain documents which were confiscated.
El-Sayedj’s father, a retired teacher who lives in El Bireh on the West Bank, said his son did visit Amman from time to time but only to accompany his wife on her frequent trips to Russia. The couple has four children. Mrs. el-Sayedj was due to leave for the Soviet Union today but changed her plans, apparently because of her husband’s arrest.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
