Egyptian court convicts Israeli for spying

Ofer Harare sentenced in absentia to life, and Jordanian jailed for ten years, over charges they spied on officials.

Egypt map

An Egyptian court has convicted a Jordanian and an Israeli of spying on Egyptian officials and security deployments, according to the country’s state news agency.

The Middle East News Agency (MENA) reported on Wednesday that the Jordanian was sentenced to 10 years in prison, while the Israeli, who was tried in absentia, had been sentence to life by the Cairo court.

MENA identified the Jordanian as Bashar Abu-Zaid, an engineer who has been detained in Egypt since 2011.

Abu-Zaid was convicted of planting communication devices to spy on Egyptian officials and reporting to the Israeli spy sentenced with him.

The convicted Israeli spy, identified by MENA as Ofer Harare, would receive a new trial under Egyptian law if he is detained.

Since Egypt’s 2011 revolt, a spate of cases have seen Egyptians and foreigners accused of spying for Israel, or other countries, to harm the national interest.

Egypt arrested Israeli national, Ilan Chaim Grabel, in June 2011 accusing him of spying for Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency.

The countries have officially been at peace since the Camp David agreement in 1979.

Source: News Agencies