An Egyptian court convicted an Egyptian-Canadian dual citizen on Saturday of spying for Israel and sentenced him to 15 years in prison. Three Israelis tried in absentia were also found guilty, Reuters reported.
Egyptian prosecutors said Israel recruited Mohamed Essam Ghoneim al-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 detained 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.
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.
