Members of an Iranian spy ring were indicted on Friday on charges of aiding the enemy in time of war, carrying a penalty of life in prison.
The seven, including a father and his two sons, photographed military and strategic installations on orders from Iranian intelligence handlers for two years, before being caught.
According to court filings, the five adults and two minors photographed the air bases at Nevatim, Ramat David, Tel Nof and Palmachim, as well as other bases around the country including the Glilot complex north of Tel Aviv. They also photographed Iron Dome missile defense system batteries in the Haifa area, government buildings in Haifa, the ports of Haifa, Ashdod and Eilat, the Hadera power plant, and the IDF observation balloon in the Golani Junction area.
The suspected leader of the group is Aziz Nisanov, 43 from Haifa who was in contact with two Iranian handlers and enlisted the other members of the spy ring. His deputy was Alexander Sadikov, 58 also from Haifa who ran the group's operation and handed out assignments to its members.
One of the minors indicted is charged with carrying out most photographing missions and sending the images to the Iranian handlers. Other members of the group are Yigal Nisan, 20 Nisanov's son, Vyacheslav Guschin, 46 from Haifa and Yevgeni Ioffe, 47 from Nof Hagalil, and another minor.
Iranian ballistic missiles over Temple Mount
They are charged by Haifa prosecutors of carrying out missions for two years, for Iranian intelligence for the purpose of gathering intelligence for Iran on military installations and civilian infrastructure and surveillance of Israelis.
They were instructed to photograph the Nevatim airbase one day after Iran's April attack on Israel. They were sent exact locations of sites, maps and aerial photographs and on some occasions were told the exact locations from which to take the pictures. One of the underage defendants was the locations that would be required for future missions, including the Golani training base's dining room which was hit in a deadly drone strike earlier this month and a defense industry site in the north.
Nisanov was also asked to gather information on a lecturer at Haifa University who was a gas engineer and an expert on the Caucasus, including her schedule, her family, what car she drove and more.
According to the indictment, one of the Iranian handlers asked Nisanov to attend and photograph the opening of the Azerbaijan embassy in Tel Aviv in March 2023 after he disclosed that his mother had been invited to attend. The event was closed and Nisanov's mother took pictures of the opening, which he then sent to his handler.
In September, before the ring was arrested, Nisanov was asked to rent a yacht and sail to Cyprus to film the port there and the maritime rout from Cyprus to Haifa. After enquiring about the rental of a boat or alternatively training as a captain, Nisanov relayed the estimated cost to his handler, who then scrapped the plan.
The indictment described another mission the group was given in September which was to photograph a soccer match and training sessions for adults and children at the soccer stadium in Beer Sheva. They were also asked to take pictures of the city's museum and the nearby community of Lahav, including its streets, its fences and areas around it.
Nisanov informed his handlers that he had been invited as a musician to play in an event honoring the Bukhara community, that was to be attended by President Issac Herzog and members of the government. He provided the list of attendees and a description of who they are and was asked to photograph them but was arrested before the event.
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