German held without bail

Advertisement

JERUSALEM, Jan. 12 (JTA) — A German citizen charged with planning to help Hezbollah fundamentalists carry out a terrorist attack in Israel will be held without bail until the end of legal proceedings against him. That was the ruling of an Israeli judge in the case of Stephan Josef Smyrek, 25, who was arrested at Ben-Gurion Airport in November after Israeli and German intelligence trailed him for several months. Police maintained that he was trained in Lebanon and recruited into Hezbollah to help the organization carry out a suicide attack in Israel. Smyrek is accused of conspiracy to help an enemy in war against Israel, conspiracy to pass information to the enemy with the intention of harming state security and membership in a terrorist organization. Police told the court that Smyrek has said during questioning that if released on bail, he would try to complete his mission.

Recommended from JTA

Advertisement