Suspected Mossad agent Uri Brodsky covers his face as he is extradited to Germany.
An alleged Mossad agent arrested for links to the January killing of a Hamas leader in Dubai has been freed by a German court and is now back in Israel.
Polish authorities arrested Uri Brodsky at the Warsaw International Airport as he was attempting to board a plane for Israel last June. He was charged with forging a passport in the name of Michael Bodenheimer, a suspected Mossad agent that was part of a larger group that allegedly killed Hamas commander Mahmoud al-Mabhouh at a Dubai luxury hotel in January.
The Polish government allowed Brodsky to be extradited to Germany on August 12, where the warrant for his arrest was issued, on the condition that the suspected Mossad agent would only face passport forgery charges and not additional ones for spying. Israel had pressed for Brodsky to be sent straight to them and not Germany.
Passport issued to Uri Brodsky
A day later, prosecutors in the western city of Cologne released Brodsky on an “appropriate” bail, saying he would not have to stand trial and was free to return home to Israel.
Prosecutors said the case would be dealt through written proceedings and it was likely Brodsky would just have to pay a fine. No formal charges have been filed against him.
However, Rainer Wolf, a spokesman for the prosecution, told reporters that Brodsky would likely face spying charges if he returned to Germany.
Brodsky arrived at Ben Gurion airport in Tel Aviv on Sunday amid a shroud of secrecy. There has been a virtual media blackout of the incident in Israel.
The UAE, where the assassination took place, condemned Brodsky’s release.
The incident was a diplomatic black eye for Israel, prompting Britain and Australia to expel Israeli diplomats.
Related posts:
4 Responses
Stay in touch with the conversation, subscribe to the RSS feed for comments on this post.
Continuing the Discussion
You must be logged in to post a comment.