Egyptian-Canadian convicted of spying for Israel
Court finds Mohamed el-Attar guilty of spying for Jewish state, sentences him to 15 years in prison. Three Israelis tried in absentia, said to be Mossad agents, also found guilty and handed similar jail terms
Egyptian prosecutors said Israel recruited Mohamed Essam Ghoneim el-Attar, 31, in 2001 when he was living in Turkey and that intelligence agents assisted him in obtaining a residency permit in Canada under a fake name and found him work in a bank.
Attar was arrested in January at the Cairo airport when he returned home for a family visit, and was accused of being paid to spy on Egyptians and Arabs in Turkey and Canada and using his position in the bank to obtain information on specific accounts.
Attar was also expected to scout and approach potential recruits, according to prosecutors, who said he was paid $56,000 before he was arrested.
Prosecutors said Attar gave a detailed confession admitting that he collected information about Egyptians and Arabs living in Turkey and Canada in return for money from Israel.
Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev said that "Israel categorically denies any involvement in the case."
El-Attar at court (Photo: Reuters)
The three Israelis convicted in absentia in the case, said to be Mossad agents, were also handed 15-year jail terms. All four defendants were fined 10,000 Egyptian pounds ($1,760). Israel has dismissed the case as a fabrication.
In 1996, Egypt detained Azzam Azzam, an Israeli Arab textile worker, and sentenced him to 15 years in prison for spying for Israel. Egypt said Azzam passed messages in women's underwear using invisible ink.
Both Azzam and Israel denied the charges. He was released after serving eight years as part of a deal that included the release of six Egyptian students in Israel.
Nuclear engineer charged as spy for Israel
On Tuesday, Egyptian authorities said they had arrested an Egyptian engineer from the country's nuclear energy agency for spying for Israel.
Prosecutor-General Abdul-Maguid Mahmoud announced that two foreigners, one Japanese and one Irish, were wanted in connection with the case but remained at large.
Mahmoud identified the Egyptian engineer as Mohammed Gaber and said he was arrested February 18 but that news of his detention were withheld pending the completion of the investigation.
He said Gaber stole "important documents" from the Atomic Energy Agency and passed it on to agents of Israel's Mossad intelligence service.
Egypt has a small research atomic reactor. It has recently announced plans to develop a nuclear energy program more than 20 years after it abandoned the idea of building a reactor in the aftermath of the 1986 Chernobyl disaster.
Minister of Electricity and Energy Hassan Yunis said this year that Egypt could have an operational nuclear power plant within 10 years. The plan is to build a 1,000-megawatt nuclear power plant at Al-Dabaa on the Mediterranean coast.
AP contributed to the report
