Report: Spy chief dodged torture arrest

Discreet negotiations between Israel and the Netherlands allowed a former chief of Israel's security agency to avoid arrest on torture charges, sources say.

Citing unnamed sources, the Israel newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth reported Tuesday that Dutch authorities were considering a request from an alleged Palestinian torture victim that former Shin Bet head Ami Ayalon be detained and taken to the International Court of Justice in The Hague during a May visit to the Netherlands.

The Palestinian's lawyer claimed Ayalon approved torturing him in 1999 and 2000 during Ayalon's tenure as head of the Israeli security service. The newspaper said, however, that unnamed Israeli officials quietly contacted Dutch authorities to make sure Ayalon wouldn't be detained.

The incident bears similarities of that of current Israeli Transport Minister Shaul Mofaz, who was whisked out of London in 2002 by the Israeli Embassy to avoid arrest on war crimes charges filed by a Palestinian group, the newspaper said.