Kara and Kelman released

Israeli spies Elisha Kara and Uriel Kelman who were sentenced to six months in jail by an Auckland, New Zealand court in July for their role in obtaining a passport by deception have been released from jail and deported from the country.

The Austrian Foreign Ministry has confirmed reports by media outlets in Australia and New Zealand that Ze'ev Barkan, the unaccounted-for third man in the New Zealand passport affair, served for a number of years as an Israeli diplomat in Vienna.

Barkan skipped New Zealand in April, 2004 just one step ahead of the cops. He is said to be in North Korea and using a stolen Canadian passport in the name of Kevin William Hunter.

The fourth man was Anthony David Reznik, a New Zealander, who the New Zealand police believe assisted the Israeli agents in their attempts to acquire forged New Zealand passports. He also skipped the country and is believed to be in Israel.

Reznik and Barkan are both on the Interpol wanted list.

Uriel Kelman and Eli Cara were released in line with normal policy after serving half of their six-month sentences. They were released early in the morning, served with deportation orders and later placed on a plane under police escort.

They were flying to Hong Kong on Wednesday and are due to travel to Israel on Thursday.

The two men pleaded guilty in July to trying to obtain a New Zealand passport using the identity of a wheelchair-bound cerebral palsy victim. New Zealand suspended all high-level diplomatic contact with Israel as a result and has sought an explanation and apology.

Israel is refusing to comment on the case.

Prime Minister Helen Clark said there have still been no approaches from Israel over the issue, and thus the diplomatic sanctions would stay in place.

"The ball remains in Israel's court," Clark said in a statement.

The Israelis escaped a more severe sentence by each donating 50,000 New Zealand dollars to a local charity. They faced a maximum penalty of five years in jail and have appealed their convictions.

If their appeal fails then neither man will be free to travel internationally again. However, Uri Kelman went to extraordinary efforts to hide his face. Outside the court he was heavily masked and during the trial did his best to hide his face with his hand. He clearly has future plans which involve travel.

The men were arrested in March after police secretly followed them as they were arranging to pick up the passport.

Clark has said there were "very strong reasons" to suspect the men were acting on behalf of Israel's intelligence services and said that the Israelis knew how she knew what she was saying was true.The New Zealand government has maintained, ever since the scandal broke, that Cara, Kelman, and Barkan are Mossad spies, and demanded an official apology from Israel.

According to New Zealand's TVNZ network, Reznik, the "fourth man" lived in Israel for 13 years and served in the IDF, where he trained as a medic.

Reznik fled New Zealand to Hong Kong soon after Cara and Kelman were arrested. His wife and children joined him a few days later.

Alternative names for the above include Elisha Cara and Zev William Barkan. Reznik's name also appears as Tony Resnick, David Resnick and other variants.

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