In 2013, the Australian press broke the story of Israel’s “Prisoner X”. Ben Zygier was an Israeli-Australian who had become a Mossad agent. But he was effectively disappeared by the notorious spy agency after allegedly betraying its secrets.
Zygier supposedly hanged himself while in Mossad custody in 2010, though the clouds of doubt and uncertainty still hang low around the case. Such was the secrecy enveloping the case that it was only three years later that the Australian press broke open the story. The Israeli press had been totally banned from speaking about the case, and at first his name was not even known, leading to the designation “Prisoner X”.
Last week details emerged of a “Prisoner X2” – allegedly a double agent working for Iran inside the Mossad.
Ever since the Zygier case reached the world media, talk of a “Prisoner X2” has been ongoing. But this month the American journalist and blogger Richard Silverstein, citing an anonymous “knowledgeable Israeli security source”, told some of what is known about his story and revealed that “X2” was allegedly a double-agent for Iran.