The man found guilty of following IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-General Gabi Ashkenazi and reporting details of his daily routine to Hizbullah, Rawi Sultani, has been found guilty of charges and in a plea bargain agreement, was sentenced to 68 months imprisonment. He was found guilty of collaborating with the enemy and passing information to a foreign agent. Other charges were dropped as per the agreement with the state.

The report of Sultani’s arrest appeared in YWN-Israel in August 2009. It was reported that the suspect worked out in the same Rishon L’Tzion gym as Ashkenazi, permitting him access to the military commander.

The defendant expressed remorse over his actions in a Petach Tikvah court on Tuesday. The court cited the seriousness of the conviction against him, rejecting a plea from the defendant’s father for mercy, claiming the information passed to Hizbullah was not of a classified nature. The court added that because he has no prior record and is young, 23, the plea bargain is being accepted.

Following the sentencing, the father of the defendant told the press that if his son was a Jew he would have walked away with a warning, nothing more. The statement from his father, which was read by his son’s attorney, stated that the media and the nation simply did not give his son a chance since the news of his son’s arrest was publicized.

(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)