Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has refused to approve a security court's acquittal of a man charged with spying for Israel, and has accepted a prosecutor's call for a retrial.
An appeals court ordered that Sharif Al Filali, 35, be arrested again, and set September 19 as the opening for a new trial in another branch of the state security court, court sources told AFP.
Filali was tried, along with a Russian who was absent from the proceedings, on charges that he collected information for the Israeli intelligence agency, Mossad, on Egyptian military equipment, tourism and agriculture.
But the court acquitted Filali under a law absolving those who come forward before an investigation, although it said the truth of the charges against him had been proven.
The Russian, a former military officer whose whereabouts remain unknown, was sentenced in absentia to life in prison with hard labor.
Verdicts by the security court only become final after they are ratified by higher Egyptian authorities.
The state security prosecutor acknowledged in his July request that Filali had come forward, but maintained that he "did not inform the Egyptian intelligence services of his espionage activities ... and wanted instead to be a double agent."
The prosecution said that the ruling neglected to consider the confiscation of equipment found in Filali's house, which contained information connected to the country's national security, and failed to confiscate the money in his possession, which Filali said he had received from Israeli intelligence agents.
Filali, 35, had been detained since his arrest in September 2000, but was released after his acquittal – Albawaba.com
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
