Ali Mansouri, a Belgian citizenship of Iranian descent accused of spying for Iran, was indicted by a District Court in Lod on Sunday.
He was charged with ‘’espionage and aiding an enemy in wartime.’’
The indictment stated that over the course of 2012, Mansouri, was recruited by Iran with the purpose of carrying out terror operations in Israel.
The man was arrested on September 11 at Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion airport while trying to leave Israel for Belgium. He arrived in Israel on September 6.
Mansouri had visited Israel three times in order to establish fictitious corporations in Israel to serve as cover for creating a terrorist infrastructure, which would include at least one more Iranian agent who was expected to come to Israel in the future, said the indictment.
The indictment said that he acquired Belgian citizenship by marrying a Belgian woman in 2005, though in 2006 he divorced her and changed his name to cover-up his Muslim identity.
It said he had several meetings with Iran’s Quds Force, the extraterritorial unit responsible for special operations, terrorism and subversion run by the Revolutionary Guards Corps. He continued to meet with the Iranian agents regularly, and handed them photographs he had taken in Israel, the indictment said.
Mansouri’s brother, Mansour, had also worked for Iranian intelligence, the indictment stated, and was present at meetings between Ali Mansouri and senior Iranian intelligence officials.
Mansouri, who changed his name to Alex Mans while living in Belgium, had been observed photographing the US Embassy in Tel Aviv and recording activity there while staying at a hotel opposite the site, according to the Shin Bet.
He also took 16 photographs inside Ben Gurion Airport, including of security checkpoints and the flight gates. The same day, he traveled to “a location with a view of a classified security facility,” and took pictures there as well.
Mansouri left Iran in 1980, lived in Turkey until 1997 and then moved on a business visa to Belgium, where in 2006 he obtained citizenship by marrying a Belgian citizen, the Shin Bet said. The two were later divorced.
In 2007, Mansouri returned to Iran and established an international business with interests in Iran, Belgium and Turkey.
One of the companies Mansouri established was called European Folded Glass System, Channel 2 reported. The company’s amateurish website, which states proudly that EFGS is “Big Company in Europe,” is rife with spelling and grammatical errors. Alex Mans is listed as the manager, and a Belgian address and phone number are given on the site.