Who's who in the Hizbullah cell? Jailan Halawi sifts through the contradictions News of the arrested Hizbullah cell dominated the headlines for the second week as often conflicting information continued to be leaked. Officials have denied Egypt received any intelligence from Israel regarding the cell. Such allegations, said Foreign minister Ahmed Abul- Gheit, were an "attempt to fish in murky waters". The Foreign Ministry described the case as "criminal" and discarded any possibility of it being resolved through diplomacy rather than the courts. As the interrogation of suspects continues, so too does the search for the remaining members of the cell who are thought to be hiding out in the rugged mountains of central and north Sinai. Security forces have already arrested more than a dozen people from the area and seized a cache of explosive devices. During interrogation it was reported that two of the Egyptian suspects told the story of their recruitment, claiming that their only intention was to help the Palestinian resistance and that they had no knowledge of plans to conduct operations on Egyptian soil. Egyptian suspect Hani El-Sayed Motlaq is said to have been introduced to Palestinian national Nasser Abu Omra two years ago. He was encouraged by Abu Omra to join the group. Motlaq claims that his only aim was to capitalise on the sympathy of ordinary Egyptians for the plight of Palestinians in Gaza by collecting donations at universities, mosques and other public places and send them to Gaza for aide. Two months later Motlaq, a resident of north Sinai, was introduced to the cell's alleged leader and number one suspect, Lebanese national Mohamed Youssef Mansour, aka Sami Shehab, who told him to prepare to travel to Libya to "receive training". Unable to arrange the trip, Motlaq was then advised by Abu Omra and Shehab to try Sudan. He was arrested before he was able to travel. Other reports have emerged claiming Shehab ordered recruits to collect information about specific tourist sites and report back on security levels ahead of an assessment on the possibility of launching armed attacks. Lawyer Montasser El-Zayat, who is representing the detainees, says any confessions should be discounted since they were extracted under duress. His appeal to the attorney- general, Hisham Badawi, that suspects be referred for forensic examination to ascertain whether or not they had been tortured, has been granted. The announcement on 8 April that security forces had uncovered a Hizbullah cell working on Egyptian soil sent shockwaves through the national security establishment. Members of the group are accused of belonging to an organisation that was seeking to undermine the state, compromise Egypt's national security, smuggle weapons and ammunition and plot attacks and of spying for a foreign party with the aim of facilitating operations that would destabilise Egypt. According to the suspects' lawyers, they deny all charges and insist their only goal was to help the Palestinians. Hizbullah claims the accusations are "politically motivated" and that Cairo is taking revenge on the Shia party for saying Egypt had cooperated with Israel during its three-week assault on Gaza which left over 1,400 Palestinians, the majority women and children, dead. "The details tailored by Egyptian intelligence lack even minimal evidence. This is a political campaign to smear Hizbullah," Sheikh Naeim Qassem, deputy to Hizbullah Secretary- General Hassan Nasrallah, was quoted as saying. Atef Odwani, Hamas member of the Palestinian Legislative Council, believes it is not just Hizbullah that Cairo has in its sights. Egypt, he says, is "fabricating the Hizbullah crisis to finish off Hamas... and find a good pretext to abandon the resistance movement". As investigations continue the security forces seem to be casting an ever wider net. According to sources, state security prosecutors are currently interrogating two Palestinian nationals, Mohamed Ramadan Baraka and Nidal Fathi Hassan, affiliated to Fatah. According to El-Zayat, Baraka and Hassan both lived in Al-Goura in Arish. Sources say both men were considering travelling to Sudan, and on to Syria then Lebanon, in order to receive training before carrying out a suicide bombing in the Israeli capital of Tel Aviv. Nabil Shaath, a member of Fatah's central committee , distancing his movement from the Hizbullah cell, says that while Baraka and Hassan may have been members of Fatah, investigations will probably show that they left the movement some time ago. Barakat El-Ezz, Fatah's Cairo- based coordinator, points out that seeking recruits from other groups is not a new strategy for Hizbullah. Over the years, he says, it has managed to infiltrate Fatah and other Palestinian groups and attract recruits largely on the basis of "generous" financial offers.
