One Egyptian denies accusations for spying for Israel

One Egyptian accused of spying for Israel has denied accusations addressed to him at the beginning of his trial before the state's supreme court "emergency" on Sunday.

The court's attorney general read what he called confessions by the accused, Walid Ahmad Lutfi Hashem, ( 29 year old), of contacting for several times the Israeli embassy in Cairo.

While the attorney asked for maximum penalty for these acts, which is 15- year imprisonment, Hashem denied accusations addressed to him. In light of that the court defined the next session on February 28th.

The accused man was arrested on October 23, 2003 in one Cafe in al-Haram quarters, in southern Cairo, where he had an appointment with an official at the Israeli embassy.

Egypt, however, was the first Arab state which signed a peace agreement with Tel Aviv in 1979, had announced several spying cases for Israel during recent years.