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NCO who spied for Hizbullah jailed for 11 years
Former Israeli NCO Louai Balut expresses regret at military court hearing after being convicted of passing sensitive information to Lebanese terror group. Despite severity of charges, judges hand down 11-year prison sentence
The Tel Aviv Military Court on Thursday sentenced First Sergeant Major Louai Balut to 11 years in prison after convicting him of spying for the Hizbullah terror organization. Balut was convicted of espionage and aiding the enemy while serving as tracker in the IDF Northern Command. The court also ordered he be discharged from the IDF.
Balut, 35, resides in the village of Fasuta in the Upper Galilee.
According to the indictment, from December 2007 to February 2008 Balut was in contact with a Lebanese citizen and Hizbullah operative known as Abu Hassan.
In cellular telephone conversations between the two, Balut provided the Hizbullah member with classified information pertaining to military operations.
He also passed on information to a second Hizbullah contact, a man named Abu Ali.
The indictment revealed that Balut had communicated with Abu Ali on 20 separate occasions.
The bill of indictment stated that “the accused committed these actions with the intent of assisting an enemy in a war against Israel."
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Louai Balut at military court (Photo: Yaron Brener)
Moreover, the indictment cited a connection between the culprit and a third Hizbullah operative named Abu Safi.
The extent and nature of the information passed by Balut to Hizbullah was only detailed in a confidential addendum.
Following the sentencing, Balut's defense attorney, Tami Ulman, noted that this was a complicated trial with many witnesses.
She said that her client was initially accused of more severe crimes than those he was eventually charged with, such as treason.
“These were maximum penalty crimes for which he could have received life imprisonment or execution, and thus the punishment he received was reasonable in relation to the crimes for which the non-commissioned officer was convicted.”
Senior intelligence officers called upon by the prosecution during the trial spoke of the gravity of offenses ascribed to Balut.
During the hearing, it was also revealed that the accused requested money in exchange for the information he supplied but according to him, he never received any payment.
In his final remarks to the judges, Balut expressed regret for his actions.
