Egyptian-Canadian man jailed for spying for Israel
Cairo,
Apr
22:
An
Egyptian
court
convicted
an
Egyptian-Canadian
dual
citizen
today
of
spying
for
Israel
and
sentenced
him
to
15
years
in
prison,
saying
he
had
been
''seduced
by
Satan''
into
selling
out
his
country.
Three
Israelis,
said
to
be
Mossad
agents
and
tried
in
absentia,
were
also
found
guilty
in
the
case
and
given
15-year
jail
terms.
Israel
has
dismissed
the
case
as
a
fabrication.
Egyptian
trials
of
suspected
spies
for
the
Jewish
state
have
often
soured
relations
between
Israel
and
Egypt,
which
in
1979
became
the
first
Arab
country
to
make
peace
with
Israel.
Egyptian
prosecutors
said
Mohamed
Essam
Ghoneim
al-Attar,
31,
was
recruited
by
Israel
in
2001
while
living
in
Turkey.
They
said
intelligence
agents
helped
him
get
a
Canadian
residency
permit
under
a
fake
name
and
found
him
work
in
a
bank
to
help
him
spy
on
Egyptians
and
other
Arabs.
The
court
said
in
its
ruling:
''He
let
himself
be
seduced
by
Satan,
disregarding
his
country's
values
and
selling
himself
and
his
country
to
the
devil.''
Israeli
foreign
ministry
spokesman
Mark
Regev
said:
''Israel
has
no
involvement
in
this
matter
whatsoever.
It
is
a
pity
that
there
has
been
a
recurrence
of
these
trials
which
are
not
based
on
fact.''
Attar
was
arrested
in
January
at
the
Cairo
airport
when
he
returned
to
Egypt
for
a
family
visit.
He
was
accused
of
spying
in
both
Turkey
and
Canada
and
of
using
his
job
in
a
bank
to
get
information
on
specific
accounts.
No
Appeal
There
can
be
no
appeal
against
the
verdict
of
the
emergency
security
court.
Only
President
Hosni
Mubarak
can
overturn
the
conviction.
Canadian
consular
officials
attended
the
trial
and
an
embassy
spokeswoman
said
her
country
was
reviewing
the
verdict.
Prosecutors
said
Attar
was
also
expected
to
find
potential
recruits
and
was
paid
56,000
dollars
before
his
arrest.
Attar,
who
along
with
the
other
defendants
was
also
fined
10,000
Egyptian
pounds
has
denied
all
charges
and
said
a
confession
was
forced
out
of
him.
In
a
separate
ongoing
spy
case,
Egyptian
nuclear
engineer
Mohamed
Sayed
Saber
Ali,
35,
is
facing
trial
over
accusations
of
giving
sensitive
state
nuclear
information
to
Israel.
Prosecutors
say
Ali,
who
worked
for
the
state
Atomic
Energy
Agency,
took
documents
from
his
work
at
a
small
nuclear
research
reactor
and
handed
them
to
foreign
contacts
for
17,000
dollars.
Ali
was
arrested
last
month
at
the
Cairo
airport
on
his
return
from
one
of
several
trips
to
Hong
Kong,
where
authorities
say
he
met
his
contacts.
An
Irishman
and
a
Japanese
citizen
are
also
charged
in
absentia
in
the
case.
Prosecutors
say
Ali's
contacts
were
interested
in
the
Inshas
reactor
where
he
worked;
how
many
hours
it
operated,
the
type
of
experiments
conducted
and
any
technical
problems.
They
also
wanted
to
know
how
often
the
International
Atomic
Energy
Agency
inspects
the
reactor.
Egypt
dropped
plans
for
nuclear
power
stations
in
the
1980s
but
the
government
last
year
said
it
would
take
another
look
at
nuclear
power
as
an
alternative
to
fossil
fuels.
Reuters