An Egyptian engineer was found guilty of spying for Israel on Saturday and sentenced to 15 years in jail with hard labor after his acquittal last year on the same charges was overturned by the president, reported Reuters.
Sherif Fawzi Mohammed al-Filali had been found innocent of the spy charges in an emergency state security court in June 2001. But President Hosni Mubarak threw out the acquittal and ordered a retrial.
The 35-year-old Egyptian civil engineer was charged, along with a Russian friend named Gregory Jifens, for gathering information on Egypt's industrial, agricultural and tourism projects for Israel. These included the Toshka project, a giant irrigation and land reclamation scheme in the south. Israel, however, has denied any involvement in the case.
His Russian partner was sentenced to life in prison in absentia.
Court documents said Filali shuttled between Egypt and Spain for that purpose in 1999, before realizing the information was for the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad.
Filali can petition Mubarak to overturn the verdict.
The family of Filali has been arguing that he was set-up by the Egyptian government and that he was innocent. (Albawaba.com)
© 2002 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
