Israel court rejects Russian 'hacker' appeal against US extradition

Israel's top court upheld Sunday an extradition order of a Russian alleged hacker to the United States, where he is wanted for fraud.

The justice ministry had last month finalised the extradition of Aleksey Burkov, who has been held in Israeli custody since 2015, without providing a date.

Burkov appealed the decision to the supreme court, asking that he be sent to Moscow, or that his extradition to the US be conditioned on him serving any future prison term in Russia.

"The appeal is rejected," a panel of three supreme court justices wrote in their Sunday ruling.

They noted that the decision to extradite him was made "after a deep and exhaustive examination of all the considerations".

"We did not find any circumstances... that justify our intervention in the decision," the panel wrote.

Burkov's name has been mentioned several times by Russian and Israeli media in connection with a possible prisoner swap with Naama Issachar, an Israeli-American convicted in Russia on cannabis charges.

The 26-year-old Issachar was arrested in Russia in April for possession of nine grams of cannabis in her baggage when she was transiting Moscow between India and Israel.

She was sentenced to seven and a half years in prison for trafficking and possession of the drug.

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said after the verdict that he "would appreciate" Russian President Vladimir Putin looking into the case.