Investigation with the so-called Hizbullah cell arrested in Egypt has reportedly uncovered a "conspiracy" between the Shiite movement and Lebanese authorities, reports said on Tuesday.
Al Hayat newspaper, citing well-informed Egyptian sources, said Tuesday that Cairo will file an official request with Lebanon demanding to open an investigation into what it called "serious deviations" the probe has revealed, most significantly of all is Lebanese authorities' "conspiracy" in facilitating the work of the Hizbullah cell.
The sources spoke of "grave breaches," including the usage of official Lebanese stamps to mark approval on bogus documents. According to them, Hizbullah detainee Mohammed Youssef Mansour, known as Sami Shehab, entered Egypt several times on a forged passport under the name of Salim Bassem Sami Hashem.
The sources said the fake passport carried the real picture of Mansour, an indication that an official Lebanese authority or a person working for that authority has facilitated access to the passport. They added the official document requesting to assign attorney Montasser al-Zayat to represent Mansour "was issued in the same way."
The power of attorney, according to the sources, is signed by Walid Shehab in his capacity as the defendant's brother. Mansour denied having a brother under that name. The forged document was nevertheless officially authenticated, the sources added.
They said the power of attorney was signed by a Beirut notary with an official Lebanese stamp on it and then authenticated by the Lebanese foreign ministry followed by approval from the Egyptian embassy in Beirut.
The sources said they believed Lebanese authorities or Lebanese people working for official Lebanese bodies had conspired with Hizbullah in preparing the forged documents with genuine stamps.
