CAIRO: The story of the Egyptian nuclear technician, Mohammed Sayed Saber Ali, who has been charged by Egyptian authorities with spying for Israel, has both shocked the nation and raised many skeptical eyebrows. Ali is alleged to have received $17,000 for documents he took from the Inshas research nuclear reactor where he worked, part of the state s Atomic Energy Agency. According to the general prosecutor s office Ali was working with an Irish citizen and a Japanese - who have also been charged in absentia - and met with them in Hong Kong on a number of occasions. The men, named as Brian Peter and Shiro Izo respectively, are said to have convinced Ali to work for their company, which was working with the Mossad, the Israeli Intelligence Agency. The prosecutor s office said that Ali was asked to provide information about Inshas hours of operation, the nature of experiments conducted within it, and any problems inside the reactor. He was also asked to report how often it was inspected by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Kyle O Sullivan, spokesman for the Irish Foreign Affairs Press Office said that no Irish citizen was currently in custody in Egypt, adding that the Irish Embassy in Cairo is monitoring the case closely . No Japanese citizen was currently in custody either, Juici Takahara, deputy chief of mission at the Japanese Embassy, told The Daily Star Egypt. We have no record of anyone by the name of Shiro Izo coming to Cairo, said Takahara, noting that the translation of the suspect s name from Arabic to Japanese could make identifying him difficult. A Cairo-based Japanese source, speaking to The Daily Star Egypt on condition of anonymity, speculated that the affair was a publicity stunt by the Egyptian government, to draw attention to their recently re-launched nuclear program. Being a recognized nuclear power is an issue the government is extremely sensitive about, the source said. Earlier in the day, Mark Regev, spokesman for the Israeli foreign ministry, had also dismissed the allegations, saying that, All too often, these sorts of stories are circulated in Cairo and they always prove to be totally baseless. Junji Tachino, Cairo bureau chief of the Japanese newspaper Asahi Shimbun, told The Daily Star Egypt that the case is not likely to create diplomatic difficulties between Egypt and Japan or Ireland. "This will probably remain an internal issue, Tachino said. "It is highly doubtful that this will escalate to the diplomatic level. The case comes just days before a verdict is reached in the trial of another Egyptian citizen, Mohamed Al-Attar, also charged with spying for Israel.
