Egyptian sentenced to life imprisonment for spying for Iran
Iran has strongly criticized the judicial verdict issued in Cairo against an Egyptian citizen accused of spying for Iran. The spokesman for the Iranian foreign ministry Hamid Rida Aseifi said in a statement that the verdict is not based on evidence.
He said that Tehran refused from the very beginning the allegations of the Egyptian attorney and will ask the Egyptian government explanations on this matter.
The Iranian spokesman described the trial as silly, accusing Egypt of seeking to please Israel, and considering that it would be better for the Egyptian judiciary to concentrate on internal problems instead of carrying out such "false courts."
The supreme security court issued sentences of imprisonment of 35 years in total against the Egyptian Mahmoud Eid Dabbous after he was convicted of spying for Iran and receiving money to carry out acts of destruction and conspiracy for the assassination of the Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.
Dabbous was sentenced to life imprisonment after he was convicted of conspiring to assassinate the Egyptian President Mubarak and he was also sentenced to 10 years imprisonment after he was convicted of working for Iran after he gave information to Iran's embassy in Cairo on plans to attack Egyptian and Saudi targets.
The court sentenced in absentia 25 year imprisonment against the former Iranian diplomat Muhammad Rida Doust in being the army officer who supervised Dabbous's activities.
Following the issuance of the sentence, Dabbous said he is innocent and he denied being involved in any of the accusations addressed to him. He described the sentence issued against him as unfair, noting he received a promise of a presidential pardon if he cooperates with the investigative sides.
The court judge Adel Abdul Salam Jum'a who issued the sentenced denied giving such promises.
Dabbous also stressed he was tortured during investigations and he was obliged to give statements under pressure.
Dabbous was arrested in December 2004 while Muhammad Rida who was working in the Iranian diplomatic mission in Cairo fled and his place is not known.
Worthy mentioning that Egyptian-Iranian relations have been in a long phase of tension following the foundation of the Islamic republic in Iran in 1979. These relations became more tense following official accusations from Cairo to Tehran of involvement in helping the assassinators of the late Egyptian President Anwar al-Sadat in 1981.