by dailystar.com.lb — BEIRUT: An Israeli online newspaper reported Monday that a Lebanese man, who worked for the Israeli Mossad, fears deportation to Lebanon, claiming that Israel refuses to help him. The Times of Israel says that Benjamin Philip-not his real name- worked for the Mossad since 2011, during which time he helped gather information on Lebanon’s Hezbollah. While the paper does not give his current whereabouts, it says Philip is seeking asylum in Europe.“However, if this [asylum] fails […] it appears he will be sent back to Lebanon,” the report said. He said that if deported, he will face years of imprisonment, “a scenario that he, a gay man, cannot accept, knowing that such a sentence in a Lebanese prison would mean rape and torture,” the paper said. Philip added that his decision to go public with his story came “out of a sense of desperation, hoping — as a last-ditch effort — that by making his case public, he could pressure Israel and the Mossad to help him, as he says they promised to do.”

The report also states that Philip was raised in a village in south Lebanon and joined Hezbollah’s youth scouts as child. His decision to join the Mossad was triggered by events in 2009 where he was acting as an observer during Lebanon’s parliamentary elections. Philip said that while working as an observer he reported on illegal activities by Hezbollah polling centers in Houmin Fawqa in Nabatieh. He claimed that afterwards he became a target of Hezbollah, “They went to his family and told them, ‘Your son is gay and he’s dating someone.’ His family beat him up, a lot,” Philip told the paper. At that point, he said, he decided to change his life’s purpose to fighting Hezbollah. “When this happened, I decided — this is a war, literally a war.”