Israel to conduct 'intensive' probe of Mossad prisoner case

Jerusalem, Feb 17 (AFP) Israel's parliament is to conduct what it called an "intensive" inquiry into the arrest and death of a jailed Australian-Israeli with Mossad links, a parliamentary spokesman said today. "The intelligence subcommittee of the (Knesset) foreign affairs and defence committee decided to hold an intensive inquiry into all aspects of the affair of the prisoner found dead in his cell," the committee spokesman Asaf Doron said. He gave no further details. The decision followed days of media frenzy sparked by the exposure last week of the identity of the man known as Prisoner X -- an Australian immigrant called Ben Zygier who worked for Israel's Mossad spy agency. According to a story broken last Tuesday by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), Zygier was found hanged in his cell in Ayalon prison near Tel Aviv in December 2010, in a case Israel went to extreme lengths to cover up. It imposed a total media blackout on the case but was forced to ease the restrictions after the story made headlines across the world, rendering the local gag order ineffective. (AFP) ASY 02180202 NNNN