One Egyptian and three Israelis will stand trial in Egypt on charges of spying, reports Jailan Halawi Had Mohamed Essam Ghoneim El-Attar, 31, known that he would be arrested upon arrival at Cairo International Airport on New Year's Day, he might have reconsidered visiting his family. El-Attar and three alleged Israeli intelligence officers -- who remain outside Egypt -- are expected to stand trial before a State Security Court within days on charges of espionage. The three accomplices were identified as Daniel Levi, Kemal Kosba and Tuncay Bubay of the Mossad. The latter two are said to hold dual Turkish-Israeli nationality. On Monday, Egypt submitted an official request asking the Interpol to arrest and hand over the three. The State Security Prosecution said that El-Attar, who now holds a Canadian passport, travelled to Turkey on a tourist visa in 2001 while enrolled in the third year at Al-Azhar University. It is there that he was allegedly recruited, then helped by his handlers to settle in Canada with the aim of spying on Egyptian and Arab expatriates. Levi assigned El-Attar the task of gathering information on expatriate Arabs in Turkey, before moving to Canada in 2003 where he met Kosba. He was furnished with a job in a fast food restaurant, and later Bubay got him a job at a Toronto bank. There, El-Attar is believed to have monitored the bank accounts and financial transactions of Arab clients, along with short-listing candidates to be recruited by the Mossad. In return for his services, El-Attar is said to have received US $56,300 since his recruitment in August, 2001. El-Attar had fled Egypt in 2001 to avoid a three- year imprisonment sentence after being found guilty of felony. According to his lawyer, Ragab El-Assaal, his client left the country when a misdemeanour court sentenced him to three years for failing to pay an IOU to a car rental agency. El-Attar apparently crashed the rented car and failed to pay for damages. After the sentencing, he fled the country and left the appeals process in the hands of El-Assaal. An appeal to drop the charges according to a five- year statute of limitation on felonies was accepted in December, and El-Attar booked a ticket from Canada to visit his family, allegedly en route to Jordan and then Israel. El-Attar's parents, who were divorced before he was born, seem divided over the authenticity of the allegations. While his father and paternal uncle, both former Air Force servicemen, expressed dismay over the charges but stressed their faith in the judiciary and intelligence apparatus, his mother and maternal uncle were appalled by what they described as "the unfairness of accusing an innocent, helpless person who [being in custody] cannot defend himself". El-Assaal, El-Attar's neighbour and the only lawyer who agreed to review the spy charges, said he was going to drop the case if he found evidence incriminating his defendant. News of the case topped media coverage, with journalists racing to find out about this desperate young man and what spurred his suspected treason. And while there is nothing concrete so far except the charges, theories and reports of his alleged agenda abound in leaked reports. Although Egypt was the first Arab country to sign a peace treaty with Israel in 1979, apparently it remains the prime target for Mossad activities. A few years ago, an Israeli radio show hosting former Israeli intelligence officers quoted former deputy director of the Mossad, Youm Tof Hareil, as saying: "if Israel has reached the conclusion that it should stop some intelligence activities in some countries, Egypt remains the exception... One country will always remain a target for Mossad activities. This is Egypt." According to sources close to investigations, upon his arrival in Canada, El-Attar converted to Christianity with the aim of infiltrating the Arab- Christian expat community and filing reports about their "agenda and ideologies", as well as finding recruits. It was unclear if he succeeded in his mission to enlist new conspirators. Some political analysts, however, believe that El-Attar was assigned the task of fomenting discord among Egyptian Copts in north America. Egyptian Copts residing in the West have for several years been a source of concern for the regime, hence the Mossad would be treading on sensitive terrain if they were interfering in this issue, argued security sources. In response, The Jerusalem Post quoted Israeli officials describing press stories about Israeli espionage as false and mere propaganda "to paint Israel negatively in Egypt". The facts, however, prove otherwise. In 1996, Egypt sentenced textile worker Azzam Azzam, a member of Israel's minority Druze community, to 15 years in jail on charges of filing reports on Egyptian industrial cities to the Mossad. Azzam always maintained his innocence and in 2004 was handed over to Israel, in exchange for six Egyptian students arrested on suspicion of planning to abduct Israeli soldiers. Azzam's Egyptian accomplice, however, continues to serve a 25-year sentence in an Egyptian jail. In 2002, a State Security Court sentenced Egyptian engineer Sherif El-Filali to 15 years in prison with hard labour for spying on behalf of Israel, in what was described as one of the biggest public spy cases. Not all espionage-related cases are divulged to the press, but reportedly more than a dozen cases were discovered over the past 20 years. And apparently Egypt is not the only country troubled by Mossad activities. Ottowa and Tel Aviv reportedly have had stand-offs in the past about Mossad agents working under Canadian guise. In 2004, there were allegations that an Israeli spy had travelled to China and North Korea using a stolen Canadian passport; in 2002, a Palestinian informant disclosed he was recruited by Israelis pretending to be Canadians; in 1997, Canada temporarily recalled its ambassador to Israel when two Israeli agents were arrested in Jordan with counterfeit Canadian passports after a failed attempt to assassinate Khaled Mashaal, Hamas Politburo chief.
