Four Israelis were fined the equivalent of $1,000 each Thursday by a district court in Nicosia, Cyprus, after pleading guilty to trespassing on the Iranian Embassy with the intent to commit a felony.
The surprise confession ended a case which the media claimed was the outcome of a bungled operation by Israel’s foreign intelligence agency, Mossad.
The Israelis, two men and two women, were arrested during the night of April 23 in the basement of the building housing the Iranian Embassy in the Cypriot capital, in possession of burglary tools and espionage equipment.
They were widely believed to have been trying to bug the embassy’s telephones. But since wiretapping is not illegal in Cyprus, they were booked on six other counts.
The judge, anxious to dispose of the case, readily dropped five of the charges after the guilty plea. Cyprus, he said, does not want to become involved in Middle East disputes.
The Israelis were speedily hustled out of the country. They had been free on bail since May 2 and were living at the Israeli Embassy, which posted bond, provided them with defense counsel and paid their fines.
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.
