Arab Knesset Member Talab A-Sana (Ra`am-Ta`al) has petitioned Attorney General Menachem Mazuz and Knesset Speaker Dalia Itzik to investigate reports that the Shin Bet security service is secretly tapping the telephone conversations of Arab lawmakers.

A-Sana told Haaretz that, according to information he received this week, the telephones of several Arab MKs have been tapped.

He has officially requested that Attorney General Mazuz and MK Itzik look into the claims.

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A-Sana has also asked for an investigation into the legality of such a move by the Shin Bet.

If found to be true, A-Sana has called the practice "absolutely out of line," and a violation of democracy.

"Governments in trouble often begin to trample laws," he said. "This seems to be a case of political persecution," he added, saying that the move would effectively take Arab MKs back in time to the way Israeli Arabs were once treated by the military police.

He clarified that he is not yet aware of the identity of the lawmakers targeted.

Shin Bet may legally tap MKs' telephones with permission from the Supreme Court and the Knesset Chair, which is given only in cases where there is considerable suspicion of criminal activity.

In all cases, permission is granted for no more than three months, and must be renewed if tapping is continued beyond this time.

It was recently divulged that police and Shin Bet tapped the telephone calls of Israeli Arab and former Balad party MK Azmi Bishara during the Second Lebanon War in August 2006. It is not clear for how long this continued.

Charges of treason and aiding the enemy in wartime were brought against Bishara based on the content of his calls, causing him to resign from the Knesset.