Hanging in the balancen

The testimony of the military attaché at the Egyptian Embassy in Madrid is likely to determine whether Sherif El-Filali was an ambitious arms dealer or a spy for Israeli intelligence, reports Khaled Dawoud
"I would have killed my son right here if he was an Israeli spy," Fawzi El-Filali told reporters as he embraced his son
Over three days, the lawyer defending Sherif El-Filali, a 34-year-old businessman accused of spying for the Israeli intelligence agency, the Mossad, vehemently denied that his client was involved in any wrongdoing.
"El-Filali's arrest and trial harmed Egypt as well as Iraq," Ahmed Said Abdel-Khaleq said at the end of a lengthy defence presentation on 11 April. "Perhaps had El-Filali not been arrested, Iraq would not have been hit [by the United States and Britain] as we saw recently," he added.
Since the opening of El-Filali's trial at the beginning of this year, his lawyer repeatedly reminded the State Security Court that his client voluntarily went to the Egyptian Embassy in Madrid, three months before his arrest in September, to inform them of an arms deal he wanted to clinch with a Russian partner, Gregory Schvitz. The Russian is on trial in absentia and Egyptian prosecutors describe him as an Israeli agent who recruited El-Filali and introduced him to two Israeli Mossad officers.
El-Filali returned to Egypt of his own accord on 10 September and went to the National Security Department (intelligence) headquarters three days later to inform them of the arms deal he was working on with Shvitz. He told officers that the Russian partner suggested they work together to sell a radar network to Iraq, an endeavour which would require El-Filali to relocate to Baghdad for three years.
After daily interrogation sessions at intelligence facilities for nearly two weeks, authorities decided to arrest El-Filali on 27 September and put him on trial, the lawyer said.
Prosecutors said that El-Filali had moved to Germany in 1990 like many young Egyptians who go abroad to seek better living and work opportunities. However, prosecutors added, he was unsuccessful there and moved in 1995 to Spain where he married a Spanish national.
In early 1999, he became acquainted with the Russian defendant who, according to prosecutors, recruited him to work for the Mossad. El-Filali was then alleged to have been assigned to take photos of sensitive military sites in Egypt; provide information on Russian weapons in the Egyptian arsenal, modifications introduced by the armed forces, dealings between Egypt and Iraq and information on the Toshka mega-project for irrigation in south-western Egypt. Added to these tasks he was to recruit two of his relatives, a former navy officer and a top civil servant at the Ministry of Agriculture, to work for the Mossad. In return, El-Filali received a total of $5,000, prosecutors said.
In addition to reminding the court of the fact that it was El-Filali himself who went to authorities to inform them of his activities, defence lawyer Abdel-Khaleq attempted to have invalidated the confessions his client was alleged to have made shortly after his arrest. Abdel-Khaleq argued that El-Filali was held for two months at intelligence headquarters where he was subjected to "psychological pressure" in order to make false confessions. He added that detaining his client at intelligence headquarters was in violation of the law, since suspects must be held in a public prison until they are referred to trial.
The prosecution, after initially refusing to publicly admit at the trial that El-Filali was detained at intelligence facilities, eventually conceded in last week's session that this was the case. But they insisted that this did not constitute a violation of the law and was not grounds for invalidating the confessions.
El-Filali's lawyer described him as a young businessman who wanted to attract investors to Egypt. He did not deny that his client provided information on the Toshka project, tourism and the economy, but argued that this information was available to the public and carried in brochures issued by the government to promote investment. He added that the main witness for the prosecution, Hussein Farghal, a former navy officer who owns an import-export business in Alexandria, was fully aware of one of the deals El-Filali was working on to sell Russian boats owned by the Egyptian navy to an African country. "If my client is on trial, Farghal should be on trial too, because he was also involved in the deal and in contact with the Russian suspect, Gregory Schvitz," Abdel-Khaleq told the court.
The presiding judge of the State Security Court, whose sentences cannot be appealed according to the Emergency Law in force since 1981, decided to adjourn the case until 13 May to allow time to hear the testimony of the military attaché at the Egyptian Embassy in Madrid.
Abdel-Khaleq said that this decision was a positive sign because it reflected the fact that the court wanted to make sure his client had fully informed the authorities of all his activities before his arrest.
Since Egypt signed its peace treaty with Israel in 1979, a handful of spying cases have arisen, confirming the "cold" nature of the peace between the two countries. Yet, for El-Filali, the charges could not have come at a worse time: the majority of Egyptians are outraged by the daily killings of Palestinians in the occupied territories by Israel since the Al-Aqsa Intifada erupted in late September.
"Had I believed that he was a spy for the Israeli enemy, I would have never accepted the case," Abdel-Khaleq said at the end of a lengthy defence. Similar views were expressed by Fawzi El-Filali, the defendant's father. "I would have killed my son right here if he was an Israeli spy," he told reporters in the crowded courtroom in Abbasiya.
Alluding to the tense political climate, Abdel-Khaleq appealed to the court to "take into consideration the facts only and not to be influenced by the atmosphere created by the Intifada, the withdrawal of the Egyptian ambassador to Israel and the policies of [right-wing Israeli Prime Minister Ariel] Sharon."
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