Terrorist prisoners (illustration)
Terrorist prisoners (illustration)Flash 90

A Jerusalem court has sentenced two lawyers, Mudahat Issawi and Shirin Issawi, to eight and four years in prison, respectively, for harming Israel's security.

The pair were convicted of passing on encrypted messages from security detainees belonging to Hamas and influencing the list of prisoners to be released in exchange for Gilad Shalit.

Shirin ran the al-Quds Commercial Law Service in eastern Jerusalem while her 42-year-old brother had an office next door. The siblings allegedly built a network of eastern Jerusalem lawyers with blue Israeli ID cards who were sent on missions to prisons in exchange for money.

They were exposed by an extended undercover investigation by the Israel Security Agency (ISA, also known as the Shin Bet or Shabak).

Ultimately, six lawyers and two office directors were charged with contacting a foreign agent, giving services to an unlawful association and using property for the purpose of terror.