Talat Zaki Hafiz

Mohammed Mar’i
Saudi Gazette
 
RAMALLAH — Israel has agreed to pay several million shekels in compensation to the family of Ben Zygier, the Melbourne-born Mossad agent who committed suicide in a Israeli prison, a report said Friday.

The Israeli daily Haaretz quoted an unnamed source familiar with the case as saying that the deal was made six weeks ago, after Zygier’s family was notified about an internal investigation that concluded that he had indeed killed himself.

Zygier committed suicide in the Ayalon prison in the city of Ramle prison in 2010. An ongoing investigation is examining the possibility that his jailers were negligent in failing to prevent the incident.

Zygier, who had taken on the Israeli names “Ben Alon” and “Ben Allen,” had been held under a false identity for security reasons. It has been widely reported that he worked for the Mossad, Israel’s external spy agency.

Conflicting, unconfirmed reports have indicated that Zygier had spilled Mossad secrets to the Australian authorities or media, or was believed to have been about to do so. A Kuwaiti paper reported Thursday that Zygier had taken part in the assassination of senior Hamas official Mahmoud Al-Mabhouh.

Mabhouh died on Jan. 20, 2010 in a hotel in Dubai in a killing widely attributed to Israel.