Egyptian charged with spying for Israel

CAIRO — An Egyptian citizen has been charged with espionage for Israel, one week after Egypt recalled its ambassador to Israel.

An Egyptian engineer, Shereef Fawzi Mohammed El-Falali, 35, has been charged with allegedly providing Israel with "spying for Mossad, having received funds from Mossad to supply information on the political, economic and military situation in Egypt, and harming the nation's interests," the indictment sheet said.

Prosecutor Hisham Badawi said Tuesday that El-Falali will be tried by a state security court but no date has yet been set for the trial. El-Falali was arrested on Sept. 27 in his home in the Cairo suburb of Heliopolis and has been held in custody since then. El-Falali faces the death penalty if convicted.

Badawi said that an unnamed Russian citizen, a former military officer, also charged in the case, will be tried in absentia. Officials said his wherabouts are not known.

Egyptian officials said El-Falali graduated with a civil engineering degree from Cairo University in 1990. Unemployed, El-Falali left for Germany in the hope of finding work in his profession. Prosecutors said that while El-Falali was in Germany, he met a Jewish German woman who led him to Spain where he was recruited by the Russian to the Mossad, Israel's secret service. He allegedly received Hebrew language and other training from Mossad agents stationed in Spain. In 1998, he returned to Egypt.

The espionage charges against El-Falali come at a time when relations between Egypt and Israel are strained. Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak recalled Egyptian Ambassador Mohammed Bassiouny back to Cairo after Israel's aerial bombing of several installations in Gaza last week. Mubarak said Israel used undue force against the Palestinians in the current mini-war in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

In Jerusalem, Israel denied any involvement in the espionage case or any connection to the people involved.

In 1997, an Israeli-Arab, Azzam Azzam, was convicted in Egypt of spying for Israel. He was sentenced to 15 years in jail. Israel continues to deny that Azzam is a spy but all requests to Mubarak to secure his release have been rejected.