5 Egyptians, 9 Israelis Sent To Court Over Charges Of Espionage

Prosecutors for Egypt’s state security court have charged three Egyptians and five Israelis with spying on behalf of Israel.

The defendants are accused of “espionage and providing a foreign entity with information concerning national security.” All have been referred to a criminal court by the State Security Emergency Prosecution, which deals with cases involving national security and terrorism.

The five Israelis, charged with collaborating with the Egyptian defendants to gain information on Egypt’s national security, are all members of Mossad, Israel’s intelligence agency, according to Al-Ahram’s Arabic news website. They will be tried in absentia.

Al-Ahram stated that the three Egyptians are residents of the North Sinai city of Rafah, near the Egypt-Israel border, where they allegedly passed along information to the Israeli defendants regarding the Egyptian armed forces and Islamic militant groups in the area.

They are also accused of accepting around $40,000 and LE30,000 from the Israeli agents for the leaked information.

Last June nine were accused of passing sensitive information to Israel. They were tried in absentia.

Source : Ahram Online