Israel Inmate ‘Prisoner X’: Who Was He?

Israel inmate “Prisoner X” has remained a mystery, even after he hanged himself.

Journalists have described “Prisoner X” as an inmate who hanged himself in an Israeli prison cell. His identity was unknown to the prison or the government, hence the nickname. According to NPR, a release by the Associated Press reads like a spy novel:

“He was known as Prisoner X, his crimes unknown. For months he languished in an Israeli prison until he was he was found dead in his cell in an apparent suicide. Later, rumors would swirl that he was an Australian-Israeli who worked for the Israeli secret service Mossad. The web of secrecy surrounding the man with at least three names — Ben Zygier, Ben Alon, and Ben Allen — is slowly lifting after Australia’s public broadcaster revealed details of his case, unraveling the media blackout that the Israeli government had imposed for more than two years using military censorship laws. The report has also forced the Australian government to admit that it had known about the case all along but kept it under wraps.”

An Australian newscaster had this to say on the mysterious Israel inmate:

“Evidence has been unearthed that strongly suggests Israel’s infamous Prisoner X, who was jailed under extraordinary circumstances in 2010, was an Australian national from Melbourne. Investigations by the ABC’s Foreign Correspondent program have revealed Ben Zygier, who used the name Ben Alon in Israel, was found hanged in a high-security cell at a prison near Tel Aviv in late 2010. His body was flown to Melbourne for burial a week later. The death goes part of the way to explain the existence in Israel of a so-called Prisoner X, widely speculated in local and international media as an inmate whose presence has been acknowledged by neither the jail system nor the government.”

According to CNN, ABC Foreign Correspondent Trevor Bormann wrote:

“The case is regarded as one of the most sensitive secrets of Israel’s intelligence community, with the government going to extraordinary lengths to stifle media coverage and gag attempts by human rights organizations to expose the situation.”

Who is this Israel prison inmate named “Prisoner X” who hanged himself? Do you think the names he’s been given are all aliases for something else?

Who was Israel’s “Prisoner X”, and why did he hang himself in his jail cell? on.cnn.com/12EKvMt

— CNN International (@cnni) February 14, 2013