Lebanese actor and director Ziad Itani was arrested in November on accusations of cooperating with and spying for Israel. It is now evident that Itani fell victim to a plot hatched by Major Susan Hajj Hobeiche, the former head of the Lebanese Anti-Cybercrime and Intellectual Property Bureau who was arrested Friday.

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Itani was accused of being recruited by a female Israeli intelligence agent and that the two exchanged information. According to reports in Lebanon , he was asked to contact senior Lebanese political officials in order to advance normalization with Israel.

Susan Hajj Hobeiche

The agent allegedly sent him a list of 29 names of Lebanese government ministers in order to determine which of them Itani knew. In addition, it was announced that Itani received between 500 and 1,000 dollars a month for his services and that he admitted to the charges under questioning.

Ziad Itani (Photo: AFP)

Susan Hajj was arrested on charges that she hired a hacker to forge the conversations between Itani and the Israeli agent in order to frame Itani, whom she blames for her ouster from her previous post, as a spy for Israel.

“We all must ask forgiveness from Itani who has never abandoned his Arab and Beiruti identity for a single day,” said Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouk on Twitter. “It is not enough to declare his innocence. He is a patriot and we are proud of him.”