American Gets Five Year Term As Spy for Arabs

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EDITOR'S NOTE: This story was released after censorship by the Israeli military censor. TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Terry Fleener, a 23-year-old American woman convicted of supplying information about the Jewish state to Arab guerrillas, began a five-year prison term Monday.

Fleener, of San Antonio, Texas, confessed during a one-day trial last Tuesday to charges of conveying information to the enemy, conspiring to convey information to the enemy and rendering service to unlawful groups, her attorney reported. Other charges were dropped after she entered the guilty plea.

“It's better than the death sentence,” the defendant said after the closed-door trial. Her Israeli lawyer, Felicia Langer, called the five-year sentence, handed down Monday, “cruel and unbased.” She said she will appeal. “This is not a heavy sentence, compared to the maximum of 15-20 years,” said prosecuting attorney Sarah Sirotta.

“These are offenses which strike at the security of the state. In other countries she would be hanged.” Details of the proceedings were withheld, the customary procedure here in cases dealing with security. Fleener was arrested Oct. 25 on arrival at Israel's Ben-Gurion Airport. In December, U.S.

Embassy officials said Fleener, who is not Jewish, was suspected of intending to photograph military installations in Israel. The indictment alleged she was to gather information in Israel and pass it to a member of an Arab guerrilla organization in Lebanon. Her mother, Mrs. Mary Boettcher of Enon, Ohio, and Dr.

Catherine Edwards, her former professor at the University of Texas in San Antonio, were present at the sentencing and testified as character witnesses during the trial. “She is idealistic, somewhat naive, impetuous, and fiercely loyal to her friends and principles,” said Dr. Edwards, trying to shed light on the defendant's motives.

“She was interested in the Middle East, and very well read. “She confessed in court ... but the sentence does not reflect what she actually did. She didn't hurt anyone,” Dr. Edwards told the Associated Press. Fleener visited Israel once before, in 1976. It was not clear if the charges against her resulted from activities during that visit or from her actions outside Israel.

Under Israeli security laws, persons can be tried for offenses committed against Israel in other countries.

How this transcription was made

No masthead on the cut; attribution rests on Maria's label. The clipping is a boxed story with a narrow strip of an unrelated neighbouring column down the right edge. — No printed date. The sentence was 'handed down Monday' and Fleener 'began a five-year prison term Monday'; Jan. 9 1978 was a Monday, so a Tuesday Jan. 10 paper fits Maria's label. The year is fixed by 'Fleener visited Israel once before, in 1976' and her arrest 'Oct. 25', which puts the trial in the winter of 1977–78. — The whole article. The paper prints 'cruel and unbased' inside Langer's quotation — kept as set. The editor's note is transcribed at the head because that is where it sits, above the dateline. The ellipsis in Dr. Edwards's quotation is the paper's.

Cite this clipping

"American Gets Five Year Term As Spy for Arabs," The Missoulian, 10 January 1978. Covering Palestine archive, CP-1978-028. https://coveringpalestine.org/archive/cp-1978-028