JERUSALEM (JTA) — A former Israeli government minister who confessed to spying on Israel for Iran will serve 11 years in prison under a plea bargain worked out with state prosecutors.
Prosecutors informed the Jerusalem District Court of the agreement on Wednesday. Gonen Segev will be officially sentenced on Feb. 11.
Segev was convicted of espionage and aiding an enemy in wartime, as well as providing information to the enemy, Ynet reported.
He was charged with providing Tehran with information on Israel’s energy industry and security sites in the country, along with political and military officials, among other things.
Segev, a pediatrician who lived and practiced medicine in Nigeria, was lured to the Iranian Embassy there in 2012 after being asked to treat the children of its diplomatic staff. He said during questioning that he hoped he could restore his reputation, which was tarnished by a drug bust from over a decade ago.
Israel’s energy and infrastructure minister from 1992 to 1995, Segev had moved to Nigeria after serving more than two years of a five-year prison sentence beginning in 2005 for trying to smuggle more than 30,000 ecstasy tablets into Israel from the Netherlands and for forging a diplomatic passport.
Segev was arrested in May trying to enter Equatorial Guinea, which refused him entry due to his criminal record, and turned him over to the Israel Police.
