Cairo: Imprisonment of one Egyptian convicted over spying for Israel

The Supreme state security court ( Emergency) in Cairo yesterday sentenced to 15 year imprisonment one Egyptian convicted of spying for Israel.

Witnesses said that lawyer Walid Ahmad Lutfi Hashem ( 29 year old) collapsed when the sentence was read.

The chairman of the state security court called for highest penalty for this sort of crimes which is 15 year imprisonment, at the beginning of the trial sessions and accused Lutfi of " contacting a foreign country which is Israel.. for a huge financial bribe."

Lutfi was accused of seeking to contact Israel through his contacts with the Israeli embassy in Cairo and asking it to provide it with information about Egypt and sent to it information by Fax about his military unit where he had his military service in 1998.

Among the evidences presented against him were two messages sent by Fax to the Israeli embassy proposing his services to it. The defendant lawyer Raouf Qutb said he will appeal the military ruler ( the Egyptian President ) to halt the sentence or alleviate it," considering that the case has " several gaps." Hashem was arrested on October 23rd in a Cafe in al-Haram quarters, south Cairo where he had a date to meet with a representative for the Israeli embassy to bring him the money he had requested.