http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article5258057.ece



By Uzi Mahnaimi in Tel Aviv 

The Sunday Times

November 30, 2008



A COMPUTER expert has been executed in Iran after he confessed to 

working for Mossad, the Israeli intelligence service. This provides a 

rare insight into the intense espionage activity inside the Islamic 

republic.



Ali Ashtari, 43, a computer and hi-tech equipment buyer for Iran’s 

defence industry and nuclear programme, was hanged after admitting he 

worked for Israel. It is the first known conviction of an alleged 

Israeli agent in Iran for almost 10 years.



Ashtari was trusted by senior officials to travel overseas to buy the 

advanced computers and other electronic equipment needed for the 

regime’s nuclear programme, which is reported to have already produced 

enough enriched uranium to make an atomic bomb.



Behind their backs he allowed the software he bought to be subtly 

doctored by Israeli computer engineers before it was imported to Iran. 

Ashtari confessed: “Mossad’s goal was to sell specialised computer 

equipment through me to Iranian intelligence organisations.”



According to surveillance experts, this allowed Israel to monitor 

computer systems bought by Ashtari, and insert bugs that could slow down 

Tehran’s weapons development or even sabotage it altogether.



Ashtari revealed how he communicated with his Israeli controllers: “I 

received a laptop with encrypted software for fast e-mail 

communication,” he said. “They asked me to install bugging devices in 

the communications equipment I provided to my clients.”



[...]





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Received on Mon Dec 01 2008 - 01:09:45 PST