JERUSALEM, June 28 (Xinhua) -- An Israeli-U.S. teen hacker was found guilty of sending hundreds of false bomb threats to Jewish institutions and airports around the world, mainly in the United States, an Israeli court said on Thursday.
The Tel Aviv District Court found him guilty of 28 charges, including blackmailing and threatening, and sending the police false information.
The identity of the 19-year-old youth was not disclosed because he was a minor when many of the crimes were committed.
His lawyers said the court's decision was made under U.S. pressure to convict the youth. According to one of his lawyers, Yoram Sheftel, the man has "a mental illness that prevents him from distinguishing between good and evil."
Thursday's conviction refers only offenses committed while he is an adult, but the man still awaits the court's ruling on charges allegedly committed while he was a minor.
According to his indictment, he terrorized some 2,000 institutions, including airports, airline companies, police stations and Jewish schools, by calling them and saying there was a bomb. Most of the threats were sent to sites in the United States.
He digitally disguised his voice, making him sound like a woman.
He was arrested in his home in Ashkelon, a city in southern Israel, by Israel's police in April 2017 following a request by the U.S. FBI.
