In first, police drop case against couple detained on Iranian espionage suspicions

Police on Monday closed an espionage case against Doria Achiel and Yuvda Israilov, a young Israeli couple arrested in July on suspicion of spying on Iran’s behalf.

It marked a rare instance in which law enforcement discontinued an investigation into Israelis suspected of spying for the Islamic Republic, a burgeoning phenomenon that has flummoxed authorities over the past two years.

Police did not disclose on what grounds they closed the case, but the couple’s defense attorney, Nir David, claimed it was due to insufficient evidence.

The Israel Police and State Attorney’s Office did not respond to requests for comment.

Achiel and Israilov were suspected of passing information that could harm state security, maintaining contact with a foreign agent, conspiring to commit a crime, and drug possession — but charges were never filed against the pair.

“They interrogated them on the most severe offenses that exist in Israel’s legal code,” David told The Times of Israel. “From their very first hearing, I was shouting to anyone who would listen that they have no connection to the matter.”

The two were arrested by police in their Ra’anana home at the Shin Bet’s directive in July. Officers raided the apartment, seizing phones and computers thought to have contained correspondence between the pair and supposed Iranian handlers.

“They came to them early in the morning, something like 15 detectives and police officers, and ransacked their entire house, pried open the door, cuffed them with zip ties, and blindfolded them, all for nothing,” David asserted.

The pair denied all accusations against them. They remained in jail for a week after their initial arrest. When police requested to extend their remand for a second time, the Petah Tikvah Magistrate’s Court released them to seven-day house arrest.

David claimed that police were vague regarding their actual suspicions against his clients.

Speaking to Hebrew media outlets in July, Doria said that police tried to prove her guilt with photos of graffiti that she took on her phone.

Many alleged spies recruited by Iranian agents begin with relatively innocuous tasks, such as vandalizing buildings with anti-government and pro-Iranian messages, then sending photos of the graffiti to their handlers. These gradually grow into more serious offenses, like intelligence-gathering and assassination plots.

However, Achiel denied her photos had anything to do with the Islamic Republic.

“I woke up one morning and saw graffiti under my house, and I took a photo of it,” she told i24 News at the time. “It’s irrelevant material that was added to thicken the case that they were unable to prove.”

Dozens of Israelis have been arrested and charged over the past two years on suspicion of spying on Tehran’s behalf, after making contact with Iranian agents via social media.

Only one of the alleged spies has been convicted so far, as most cases are still making their way through the legal system.