A former Israeli army intelligence officer who was serving a 12-year sentence for spying for an unnamed country has been released from prison four years early because of good behavior.
Yosef Amit, formerly a major in the Israel Defense Force Intelligence Corps, was released Tuesday after serving just under eight years’ imprisonment.
Amit was found guilty in 1985 of preparing to pass confidential documents to an enemy agent. He denied the charges.
His arrest and trial were kept secret and no details of his crime have ever been released.
Legal experts said it was the first time that a person convicted here of espionage had been granted an early release. At the end of his imprisonment, Amit was moved around to prevent reporters from discovering when and where he would be freed. The media staked out the gates of nearly all prisons throughout the country Tuesday morning, but no one reported seeing him.
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.
