Скачать или смотреть Egyptian-Canadian sentenced to 15 years in prison for spying for Israel

(21 Apr 2007)
1. Wide of State Security Emergency Court
2. Close-up sign on building
3. Defendant, Mohammed el-Attar arriving at court
4. El-Attar behind bars in court room
5. Wide of court room, judges at front of room
6. SOUNDBITE: (Arabic) el-Sayed el-Gohary, Judge:
"The court sentenced the first, Mohamed el-Attar, and the other Israeli defendants tried in absentia to 15 years in hard labour and the confiscation of all items related to the case of those defendants."
7. SOUNDBITE: (Arabic) Ibrahim el-Basyuni, defence lawyer:
"The court verdict has been a surprise to me, I expected he would be found innocent. I find this court verdict very harsh."
8. El-Attar being led into police van
STORYLINE:
An Egyptian-Canadian man was sentenced to 15 years in prison on Saturday by Egypt's State Security Emergency Court after being found guilty of spying for Israel.
Three Israelis charged alongside Mohammed el-Attar and tried in absentia also received a 15 year sentence from the Cairo court.
El-Attar and his co-defendants had been on trial since 24 February.
30-year-old El-Attar, who had pleaded not guilty, flashed a victory sign when he entered the courtroom surrounded by dozens of security personnel.
He was later rushed to a waiting police van after the verdict was issued.
Earlier prosecutors said that el-Attar had confessed to spying for Israel and gave a detailed account of his role in collecting information about Egyptians and Arabs living in Turkey and Canada in return for money.
He also allegedly received instructions from the three Israelis, said to be intelligence officers, to recruit Christian Egyptian immigrants in Canada using money and sex, according to the prosecution.
However el-Attar's defence lawyer Ibrahim el-Basyuni has claimed that the confession was made under duress.
Speaking after the hearing el-Basyuni said, "The court verdict has been a surprise to me, I expected his innocence. I find this court verdict very harsh."
El-Attar told the court in an earlier session that he confessed because he was tortured with electric shocks.
However, prosecutor Hani Hamoodah has insisted the defendant made the confession freely and without coercion.
El-Attar, a former student at the Islamic Al-Azhar university in Cairo, was arrested on 1 January as he returned from abroad to visit his family in Egypt.
His alleged confession claimed he fled Egypt in 2001 and sought asylum with the United Nations refugee agency offices in Turkey after he was sentenced to three years in prison for issuing a bad cheque.
The confession also alleged that el-Attar converted to Christianity in Istanbul and was then sent to Canada, where he delivered more spy reports about Christian Egyptians.
El-Basyuni has denied el-Attar converted or that he received any money from Israel, saying his client supported himself by working in a bank in Canada.
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