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You are here: Home / Mideast Peace / Israel’s Prisoner ‘Mr. X’ is Iranian Revolutionary Guard General Abducted by Mossad

Israel’s Prisoner ‘Mr. X’ is Iranian Revolutionary Guard General Abducted by Mossad

December 11, 2010 by Richard Silverstein 82 Comments

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ali reza asgari

Ali Reza Asgari, kidnapped by the Mossad, held incommunicado as 'Prisoner X'

This blog was the first to report last year that authorities at Israel’s Ayalon prison noted the existence of a prisoner about whom even they knew nothing, who received no visitors, was held incommnicado, had no lawyer, and was a virtual mystery.  A censored Israeli news report called him “Mr. X,” a story I broke last June.  Until today, we didn’t know who he is.  But through a confidential Israeli source I have exposed his identity.  He is a former Iranian Revolutionary Guard general and government minister under former President Khatami named Ali-Reza Asgari.  Western news outlets reported in 2007 that he either defected or was kidnapped by the Mossad, with the assistance of western intelligence agencies (either the CIA or British or German intelligence depending on the source) in Istanbul.  A conservative Iranian publication first reported last year that Asgari was in an Israeli prison and this was reported by AP as well.  Israeli media reported he had defected, and an Israeli claiming connections to Israeli intelligence reported to me that he was living quite comfortably “in Virginia.”  In hindsight, this seems a rather clumsy piece of disinformation.

Though some of the reporting may have been accurate, a good deal of what was written about his “defection” appears to have been a heady concoction devised by Mossad and others for the consumption of western media.  Wikipedia reports:

The Washington Post said that Asgari was willingly cooperating with Western intelligence officials, and was providing information on Hezbollah and its Iranian connections.

Among other things, this includes information with regards to the 1983 Beirut barracks bombing. Asgari also smuggled out intelligence documents and maps that detail Iranian involvement with Muslim militia groups, including Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad in Palestine, and the Iraqi Mahdi army and Badr Organization. A US intelligence official said that his defection was “orchestrated by the Israelis”, although Israeli spokesman Mark Regev denied this [ed, this wouldn’t be the first time Mark Regev lied with a straight face]. The New York Post reported that an Iranian dissident group helped plan the defection and is negotiating with Western intelligence agencies for a “permanent place of exile”.

…According to The Sunday Telegraph, Asgari’s defection was part of a CIA program called “the Brain Drain”, which began in 2005 and later netted Iranian nuclear scientist Shahram Amiri.

…Yediot Aharonot reported that Asgari told US interrogators that Iran is secretly attempting to enrich uranium with a combination of lasers and chemicals at a weapons facility in Natanz; this would act as a backup if the publicly known facilities and activities were stopped by sanctions or military strikes. Israeli journalist Ronen Bergman expanded upon this reporting in his book The Secret War with Iran, in which he stated that Asgari had not only supplied the information regarding lasers, but had also revealed that a second site for centrifuges had been built near the principal Natanz site, and that a Syrian nuclear program, developed with North Korean help, was being paid for by Iran.

Al Jareeda reported that Asgari provided information for the Israeli airstrike on September 6 in Syria, code-named Operation Orchard; this was echoed by the intelligence group Stratfor, which reported that Asgari “gave Israel the intelligence on Syria’s missile program needed for the Syrian airstrike.” In March 2009, Neue Zürcher Zeitung reported that after defecting, Asgari told the U.S. about the secret Syrian nuclear reactor, built in partnership with North Korea and with Iranian financing. This was reportedly the first time the U.S. and Israel were alerted of the project.

ayalon prison

Ayalon Prison, 'home' of Iranian Revolutionary Guard general Reza Ali Asgari

Until now we didn’t know Asgari was Prisoner X, which means we know where he is being held by Israel as well.  Until now, we also did not have confirmation from an Israeli source that that country held Asgari.  My information would seem to give the lie to the claim of defection.  A man who defects isn’t held in a maximum security prison cell.  If in fact at one time Asgari was a defector, it would appear that he is not one now.  I doubt he is being held incommunicado by the Israelis for his health.

By the way, this cell in Ayalon’s Unit 15, is the same one specially built to hold Yigal Amir, assassin of Yitzhak Rabin.  In other words, it is meant to isolate the prisoner from the outside world and the rest of the prison system.

One wonders whether Asgari has worn out his welcome, exhausted his usefulness, or somehow brooked his Israeli spy handlers.  What would cause them to throw him in a maximum security prison if he indeed “sang” so well for his supper as Israel claims?

The AP story notes a German source confirming Asgari provided a treasure trove of valuable intelligence to the Israelis:

Hans Ruehle, a former chief of the planning staff of the German Defense Ministry, wrote in a Swiss newspaper in March that Asgari told the West that Iran was financing North Korean steps to transform Syria into a nuclear weapons power, leading to an Israeli airstrike that targeted a site in Syria on Sept. 6, 2007.

…Ruehle said Asgari, who was instrumental in establishing the Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon, “changed sides” and provided information to the West on Iran’s own nuclear program.

…Iranian officials have said Asgari was not linked to Iran’s nuclear program, but Western media reports have said he has cooperated with U.S. intelligence and is considered a “high value” defector.

…Ziba Ahmadi, one of Asgari’s two wives, claimed at the time that her husband did not defect to Turkey and she believed “some evidence” showed he was abducted.

Recently, Asgari’s wife and family released a statement reported in the Iranian press:

The family of Alireza Asgari, [Iran’s] former deputy defense minister who was kidnapped four years ago, presented a letter to the Turkish Ambassador [to Iran] and asked that his disappearance be investigated. Ziba Ahmadi, wife of Asgari, said that four years have passed since her husband was kidnapped, and said to IRNA that in the letter that she presented to Turkey’s ambassador she requested that her husband’s case be pursued.

Emphasizing that the Turkish government must do more about Asgari’s case, she said that “we are are certain that he was kidnapped in Istanbul, Turkey.” Ahmadi said that the intelligence agency of the Zionist Regime has been involved in Asgari’s kidnapping, and said that she has asked Turkish officials to put more pressure on the Zionist regime [regarding the case].

Most of the world believes that the souring of relations between Israel and Turkey occurred as a result of the Gaza war and the subsequent Mavi Marmara massacre.  In fact, this abduction on Turkish soil can’t have endeared Israel to the Turkish government and certainly is an added factor in Turkish disenchantment with Israel.

An Israeli human rights NGO has already demanded that Prisoner X be accorded the same rights that any security prisoner is accorded in the Israeli prison system.  So it is appropriate to renew this demand at this time, now that we know who the prisoner is.  Just because is a high-level Iranian officer does not mean he can be held forever without rights.  Israel must give some accounting of him, explain to Iran why it is holding him and what it intends to do with him.  If he is a defector then Israel should allow him to live freely.  If he is a prisoner, then Israel must either try him for whatever his crimes might be or release him.  I would remind Israel that a democracy does not hold its enemies in such fashion.  It gives due process, legal rights, fair trial, etc.

UPDATE: Another Israeli academic I know with ties to a prominent Israeli reporter who he would not name, who it turn has close ties with the Mossad, claims Asgari is not in Ayalon Prison.  While there is a possibility my source was provided with false information upon which this story is based, I strongly doubt it and stand by the story.  Not the least of the reasons for my doubt of the Israeli reporter, who claims to know who REALLY is in Ayalon Prison’s Unit 15, is that he won’t come forward with that information, while my source will.

Thanks for Farsi translation, Prof. M. Sahimi.

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Filed Under: Mideast Peace, Politics & Society Tagged With: Ali Reza Asgari, iran, iran-nuclear-program, israeli-democracy, kidnapping, mossad

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shmuel

Praise where praise is due – kol hakavod for the scoop!

Vote Up0Vote Down 
December 11, 2010 1:35 AM
Richard Silverstein

Thanks. Couldn’t do it without my friends (ha-mayvin yavin).

Vote Up0Vote Down 
December 11, 2010 2:59 AM
IL

I guess you are not a big fan of freedom of speech. deleting a response you don’t like is a cowardly act.

Vote Up0Vote Down 
December 11, 2010 3:37 AM
John Yorke

Congratulations on unearthing the mystery of the equally mysterious Mr X.
Not that he is that now, of course.

Persistence pays off in the end.

Vote Up0Vote Down 
December 11, 2010 6:35 AM
Strelnikov

This may be a case like the Golitsyn/Nosenko episode where a foreign intelligence or military officer defects, reveals loads of information, then is ruthlessly “debunked” by a paranoid counterintelligence man. So does the Mossad have it’s own version of James J. Angleton? Or do they not want this guy out in the open within Israeli society?

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December 11, 2010 7:07 AM
Muhammad

I never believed that he had defected. An Iranian man of his type does not leave his wife and children behind, but calls his wife the day before, or more likely on the day of his “defection,” lives comfortably in Virginia and does not give a hoot to his family in Iran. Remember that people like Asgari are religious, devout and family man – otherwise, they would not be where they were in Iran’s power hierarchy. Men like him fought the war with Iraq, believing that the U.S. was helping Iraq.

Thank you Richard for this piece.

Vote Up0Vote Down 
December 11, 2010 7:57 AM
shmuel

The jury’s out on this one – according to Wikipedia his close family left Iran clandestinely about the same time as his “defection”, but the sources Richard brings show him to have left his immediate family behind in Iran.

The facts will probably become apparent soon now that his whereabouts have been revealed here.

Vote Up0Vote Down 
December 11, 2010 8:18 AM
Shunra

Kudos! What will it take to get you nominated for an Izzy? (And you know that there is no higher praise than my question, there. Right?)

Vote Up0Vote Down 
December 11, 2010 8:44 AM
Nathaniel

Just a question:

If you got two conflicting reports, one from an “Israeli claiming connections to Israeli intelligence” and another from a “confidential Israeli source”, how do you know which one is trying to deceive you?

Vote Up0Vote Down 
December 11, 2010 8:52 AM
medawar

I doubt that any Iranian defector or dissident would be remotely safe in Virginia: there are simply too many Iranian people there; many dissidents, but also those sent to spy on the dissidents.

This is a problem for both the CIA and MI6: how to convince a would-be Iranian defector that he could live in safety?

It’s hard to believe that this man is a defector, but it is possible that he was some kind of secret or self-appointed emissary, the precedent for that being Rudolph Hess.

If it had been an outright kidnap, we’d have heard a lot more about it from Tehran, surely?

If he was an emissary, he might have proposed something that we can never be allowed to know, which I expect to read on these pages sooner or later.

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December 11, 2010 9:03 AM
medawar

Almost certainly, both of them.

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December 11, 2010 9:05 AM
shmuel

Here’s a link from a year ago showing that Iran suspected he was being held in Israel

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3805136,00.html

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December 11, 2010 9:21 AM
annie

wow, awesome sleuthing richard.

Vote Up0Vote Down 
December 11, 2010 11:13 AM
Steffen

Wow, respect!!

Has the press in Israel picked up on this yet? Do you expect it to?

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December 11, 2010 11:21 AM
medawar

Yes, suspected is the right word: they clearly weren’t totally sure.

I will need to take a few deep breaths if Richard wants us to campaign for the human rights of a senior officer of an organization dedicated to suppressing them, but holding one person secretly without charge is as bad as holding anyone.

Unless, of course, he has been tried in secret.

Is there a Jewish Femegerichte?

Our German brothers seem to have a word for everything, except for “fluffy” if Captain Edmund Blackadder is to be believed.

Vote Up0Vote Down 
December 11, 2010 11:42 AM
Nathaniel

It can’t. There’s a court order against publicizing the existence of Mr. X let alone publicize speculations about his identity.

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December 11, 2010 12:21 PM
Richard Silverstein

Cheering the Mossad’s kidnapping & detention w/o trial of the citizen of a foreign country, which is a violation of international law, is not something I allow. Read the comment rules. Now, if you wish to say you support Iranian kidnapping of Israeli generals or former cabinet ministers, then I’ll go back & publish yr comment.

Vote Up0Vote Down 
December 11, 2010 2:07 PM
Richard Silverstein

Good questions.

Vote Up0Vote Down 
December 11, 2010 2:08 PM
Richard Silverstein

according to Wikipedia his close family left Iran clandestinely

No, the jury’s not out. The story about his family leaving Iran was a disinformation plant by the Mossad & other western intelligence agencies to deflect fr. the true story, which was his kidnapping. His family is in Iran as the quotation fr. their statement in the Iranian press proves.

Vote Up0Vote Down 
December 11, 2010 2:11 PM
Richard Silverstein

Don’t even know what an Izzy is, but I’ll take it as a compliment since we know ea. other so well.

Vote Up0Vote Down 
December 11, 2010 2:12 PM
Richard Silverstein

Because the one who is golden also provided information which broke gag orders reporting the arrests of Anat Kamm, Ameer Makhoul, the naming of Yitzhak Ilan as incoming Shabak chief (this story not even reported yet in Israel months after I reported it here), naming Tamir Pardo as incoming Mossad chief 2 days before it was official, & identifying Captain George as Doron Zahavi. Because this golden source has NEVER been wrong. Ever. While the numbers of former Israeli intelligence affiliated individuals attempting to plant false stories w. me is too innumerable to mention.

The only time (& they’ve been very few) I’ve reported stories which turned out to be false were when I reported stories provided by others.

Vote Up0Vote Down 
December 11, 2010 2:16 PM
Richard Silverstein

I’ve gotten 2 Israeli requests for interviews but nothing’s come of either one yet. Frankly, I don’t think they can report the story there yet even if they wanted to. Once a western media source breaks my story then the authorities in Israel might relent.

Vote Up0Vote Down 
December 11, 2010 2:18 PM
Richard Silverstein

In theory it can’t. But Israeli media break gag orders all the time. Sometimes they’re forced to take stories down & sometimes the authorities let the stories slide & don’t remove them. It’s a cat & mouse game of sorts.

Vote Up0Vote Down 
December 11, 2010 2:20 PM
Mike Englund

Quoting Wikipedia as a source is a joke. If this was a school assignment you would have failed. Anyone can edit Wikipedia to suit their agenda. Yours is obvious, Israel=BAD Anyone against Israel=GOOD

Vote Up0Vote Down 
December 11, 2010 3:30 PM
Strelnikov

It’s an award named after I.F. “Izzy” Stone, publisher/writer of “I.F. Stone’s Weekly.” The award is pretty new (started 2008) and comes from the Park Center for Independent Media.

Vote Up0Vote Down 
December 11, 2010 3:39 PM
uncle joe mccarthy

“I would remind Israel that a democracy does not hold its enemies in such fashion. It gives due process, legal rights, fair trial, etc.”

unless that democracy exists in the united states, and those enemies are placed in gitmo or that democracy exists in gaza, and your prisoner is named gilad shalit.

or maybe israel’s democracy is right on par with the rest of the world’s democracies.

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December 11, 2010 5:33 PM
duck

I think it would be hilarious if iran kidnapped liberman. I would not at all object.
And I would not be surprised if ACRI dropped their case now that we know that mr. X most certainly does deserve to spend the rest of his life locked away in a tiny cell.

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December 11, 2010 8:22 PM
Jenny

wow. I salute your bloody amazing investigative skills.

Vote Up0Vote Down 
December 11, 2010 11:16 PM
shmuel

I don’t know what “femegerichte” is, but there is a law in Israel that allows holding people of this “ilk”, like Sheik Obeid and Mustapha Dirani without trial, but with periodical Judicial review, and all behind closed doors. Eventually the High Court will order the government to release him (or try him) as it did with the above who were released.

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December 11, 2010 11:49 PM
Richard Silverstein

Say what? Wikipedia is a source on Asgari’s life, not the source for my report about Asgari being Prisoner X in Ayalon Prison. Could you be bothered to actually read the post before spouting utter nonsense? My source is Israeli and has nothing to do with Wikipedia.

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December 12, 2010 2:18 AM
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