Swede convicted of spying for Hezbollah, but gets light sentence
Hassan Hizran gets only 18 months in prison after court found he was reluctant to cooperate with Hezbollah handlers and did not provide all the information they sought.
A Swedish national of Palestinian-Lebanese descent was found guilty on Sunday of passing intelligence to Lebanese terror group Hezbollah.
According to the indictment, Hassan Hizran, 55, joined Hezbollah in the summer of 2009 as an intelligence asset. He was tasked with recruiting Israeli Arab assets with social ties to Israeli Jews, army officials and government officials, as well as passing information about strategic military points and bases.
The spy held meetings with his handler and gave him information. He was pressured to recruit an Israeli Arab but successfully evaded the mission. The indictment in August claimed that Hizran received $2,300 in 2009 for his cooperation.
Hizran was convicted as part of a plea bargain, after originally being indicted for passing of information and contacting a foreign agent.
As part of the plea bargain, Hizran was sentenced to 18 months in prison, mostly due to the fact his contact with Hezbollah operatives was reluctant and measured and he displayed low motivation to continue cooperating with them.
When Hizran tried to avoid meeting with the Hezbollah operatives, he was pressured and threatened that they would make it difficult for him to return to Sweden, where he lives, and make the life harder for his family in Lebanon.
In addition, the plea notes that the accused did not provide some of the information he was required to, and in that reduced the damage he caused to Israel's security.
Hizran's attorney said during the court hearing that "the accused is from a refugee camp in Lebanon and returned there for family visits. The entanglement (with Hezbollah) was probably inevitable."
