Egypt sentences Jordanian engineer to 10 years in jail for espionage

AMMAN  — Egypt's state security court on Wednesday sentenced a Jordanian telecommunications engineer to 10 years in prison on charges of espionage for Israel, according to Egyptian media.

The court also handed a life sentence in absentia to an Israeli Mossad agent that the Jordanian engineer, Bashar Abu Zaid, is accused of cooperating with, the semi-government Al Ahram newspaper reported.

Egyptian intelligence arrested 37-year-old Abu Zaid in April 2011, accusing him of intercepting international calls and redirecting them to Israel to enable the Mossad to monitor them.

The court considered these actions as endangering Egyptian national security, the Egyptian state media agency, MENA, reported.

The Egyptian general prosecutor said Abu Zaid was also working to gather information on the numbers and the equipment of the Egyptian police and army during the uprising.

MENA said Abu Zaid came to Cairo after the January 25, 2011 revolution that ousted president Hosni Mubarak 17 days later.

Abu Zaid pleaded not guilty when the trial opened in October 2011 and charged that the prosecution had tampered with the answers he gave during interrogation, Agence France-Presse reported.

The Israeli security officer, identified as Ofir Herari, had fled Egypt but was tried in absentia, Egyptian media said.

Abu Zaid was also charged with collecting data on some employees working in the telecommunications sector with the aim of recruiting candidates to work for the Mossad, according to Al Ahram.