The case of Mohamed El-Attar appears to have everything necessary -- apostasy, espionage and homosexuality -- to keep public attention rapt, writes Jailan Halawi Mohamed Essam El-Attar, who faces charges of spying for Israel, appeared in court for the first time on 24 February, and pleaded innocent. "I am innocent, your honour, and my earlier confessions were extracted under duress," El-Attar told the presiding judge after the charges had been read. As the court hearing resumed on Wednesday El-Attar appeared in a white cotton T-shirt and trousers, talking to the press from the dock and refuting the charges. "I am not a traitor, not a Christian and definitely not gay," he told the media crowd minutes before the three-judge panel appeared. While in the first court session he claimed his confessions had been made under duress inflicted by the intelligence apparatus, yesterday he alleged he was tortured by his interrogators. "The prosecution forced me to make confessions about things I did not commit." At the opening of the hearings the 31-year-old Egyptian-Canadian El-Attar appeared in the cage dock surrounded by policemen. Reports leaked to the press claim he has confessed to collaborating with the Israeli Intelligence Service Mossad, providing reports on the Arab community during his stays in Turkey and Canada. Alongside El-Attar, his three alleged Israeli handlers are being tried in absentia. The trial opened at a state security court in the new Cairo suburb of Al-Tagammu Al-Khamis. El-Attar's co-defendants have been identified as Daniel Levi, Kemal Kosba and Tuncay Bubay. The last two are believed to hold dual Turkish-Israeli citizenship. The reports of the case, as leaked to the press, seemed geared to exciting maximum public interest. Not only had El-Attar confessed to spying for Israel, he is also alleged to be a homosexual, and an apostate, converting from Islam to Christianity. The press had a field day as they reported leaks guaranteed to provoke a knee-jerk public response. His mother and maternal uncle urged the public not to rush to judgement, saying that El-Attar, who was being held incommunicado in prison, had no chance to defend himself. He is no longer incommunicado and now seems determined to make himself heard. Quite how the conflicting stories he appears to be telling will impact on his fate, however, remains to be seen. While El-Attar's initial lawyer, Ragab El-Assal, abandoned the case, stating publicly, if unprofessionally, that he had no doubt about his client's guilt, his current attorney, Ibrahim El-Bassiouni, told Al-Ahram Weekly that "Mohamed neither betrayed nor spied [on his homeland]." El-Attar, says El-Bassiouni, is guilty of nothing more than being the product of a broken home and repressive family whose only crime was to leave his country in search of a fresh start and a more promising future. Three days after arriving in Turkey, according to the incredible sounding reports of El-Attar's confession, he visited the Israeli Embassy in Ankara and asked for a job. Before assigning this potential spy his first task, say the prosecution, his Israeli handlers organised a series of tests, one of which included a lie detector. The Israelis allegedly advised El-Attar to convert to Christianity and introduced him to Catholic priests in Turkey who taught him all he needed to know about the religion. El-Attar then used his conversion and sexuality to apply for refugee status which was granted. He subsequently moved to Canada. El-Bassiouni, though, has a different, if equally incredible version of events. On arriving in Ankara, he says, he first went to the British Embassy to apply for a visa where he was told this would be impossible. Instead, says El-Bassiouni, his client was advised by the British Embassy to go to the Israeli Embassy. El-Attar, says his lawyer, followed this advice but after a couple of visits became suspicious of the Israelis' motives and applied to the United Nation's High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) which granted him refugee status. He was subsequently offered asylum by Canada. "I am not a spy," El-Attar shouted from the dock, at which point his lawyer asked the presiding judge, Sayed Gohar, for a minute of privacy with his client. The judge complied and allowed them 15 minutes in the deliberation room. Walking out of the dock with his hands-cuffed, El-Attar received a warm hug from his lawyer. Before stepping in the deliberation room El-Attar denied that he had converted, saying he had been prey only to moments of doubt, before uttering the proclamation La Ilaha Illa Allah, Mohamed Rasoul Allah (There Is No God but Allah and Mohamed is the Messenger of Allah) -- an evidence of him being still a Muslim. After returning to the court El-Attar showed the three- judge panel that his right ear is not pierced, as the prosecution case alleges. He also pointed to a scar on his forehead which he claimed was the outcome of a fight he had been involved in in Ankara with an Iraqi dissident. He claimed the Iraqi was a Mossad agent who tried to recruit him following his arrival in Ankara. It was the Iraqi, El-Attar now claims, that spread false reports about him to the Egyptian authorities. El-Bassiouni told the court that since he only took over the case last week he needed more time to prepare his defence. The lawyer submitted requests that included a copy of the enrollment register from Al-Azhar University, a copy of the Cairo Misdemeanour Court ruling issued in 2001 sentencing El-Attar to three years in prison for failing to pay an IOU, permission to address the UNHCR in Turkey requesting an explanation of the circumstances under which El-Attar was granted asylum as well as a re-examination of the case exhibits. The court accepted all requests. What sparse information has emerged from Canada from the handful of people El-Attar met is that the defendant told stories they found hard to believe about his flight from Egypt. El-Attar was arrested on 1 January at the Cairo International Airport by Egyptian police and charged with being part of an Israeli spy network that was attempting to infiltrate expatriate Arab communities in Turkey and Canada. If convicted he could face up to 25 years in jail. Wednesday's hearing was adjourned, to recommence on Monday 26 March.
