Milad Khatib in court
7 years in prison for man who shared intel with Hezbollah
Milad Khatib, 26, convicted of conspiracy to commit a crime after agreeing to plea bargain. Original charge of aiding enemy in time of war could have seen him receive life sentence
The Haifa District Court sentenced Milad Khatib,
26, from Majd al-Krum to seven years in prison on Tuesday after he was convicted of having contact with a foreign agent and conspiracy to aid an enemy in a time of war.
Within the framework of a plea bargain, Khatib pleaded guilty to the charges in exchange for a reduced charge. The charge of aiding an enemy was reduced to conspiracy.
Related stories:
The court also sentenced Khatib to one year of probation.
Khatib contacted a Hezbollah agent several times over the past five years, meeting with the Hezbollah agent in Turkey and Denmark. According to their instructions, he then shared intelligence regarding the locations of rocket explosion sites in the north during the Second Lebanon War and was asked to provide information about additional strategic installations.
During one of these meetings the Hezbollah representative even asked Khatib to take photos of the strategic installations but he refused for fear of being caught by Israeli authorities.
Last year, he was asked to provide information about the security arrangements in place for President Shimon Peres ' visit to his town.
Khatib was arrested last year following a Shin Bet investigation and he later pleaded guilty to the charges in a plea bargain that did not include any arrangements regarding his eventual sentencing.
In his verdict the judge mentioned that the original charge – aiding an enemy in a time of war – usually receives a life sentence and is even punishable by death, and added that conspiracy to commit a crime is also a serious charge.
- Receive Ynetnews updates
directly to your desktop
