CAIRO: Egyptian newspaper reports claiming that the main suspect in the Hezbollah cell case had admitted to planning attacks on Egyptian soil were refuted by his lawyer Tuesday.
The state-run Al-Ahram newspaper had reported that the main suspect in the case, Lebanese Sami Hani Shihab had said in the investigations that three attacks were planned targeting Israeli and other foreign tourists in Egypt.
“These are lies, Shihab’s lawyer Montasser Al-Zayat told Daily News Egypt. “Shihab did not say any of these things during the interrogations.
Al-Zayat and other lawyers had finally been allowed to attend the interrogations after they were prohibited by authorities during the initial phases of questioning. “Although it was late, we did attend, he said.
Al-Ahram newspaper reported on Tuesday that Shihab had confessed that the aim of Hezbollah was to carry out attacks in Egypt, not help the resistance of Hamas in Gaza as was previously claimed.
The state newspaper reported that Shihab had been ordered to target Israeli tourists and foreigners in Sinai.
The Prosecutor General announced last week that 49 people comprising Lebanese, Palestinians, Egyptians and Sudanese were working in Egypt on behalf of the Lebanese Shia group Hezbollah.
Lawyer for five of the defendants Abdel-Moneim Abdel-Maqsoud told Daily News Egypt “We finally were allowed to attend the interrogations. Two of my clients were connected to Shihab but they said that no operations were planned in Egypt, but rather for outside Egypt.
Authorities are currently questioning six of the defendants, with the rest to be questioned at a yet undetermined date.
“Investigations apparently will take some time before they are finished, especially with the number of defendants that are to be questioned, Abdel-Maqsoud said.
Clashes broke out in Central Sinai between security forces and Bedouins in the Wadi Amr valley as the hunt continued for the supposed remaining members of the Hezbollah cell at large.
Gunfire was exchanged when a swathe of security forces converged on the valley Monday. Security forces later pulled back and the fighting subsided.
As the search continues, an Israeli security source told AFP that the Israeli army has gone on high alert on the border with Egypt because of the search for the alleged Hezbollah contingent.
“The army was ordered to go into a high state of alert along the border with Egypt following the developments in Egypt and Sinai, he said, adding that Israeli and Egyptian security authorities were holding “regular security updates on the situation.
Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit told Al-Sharq Al-Awsat newspaper Tuesday that “[Iran] used [Hezbollah] to gain a presence in Egypt and to tell Egyptians: we are here.
He went on to say that Egypt had still not revealed all the evidence of Iranian tampering with Egypt through the appropriation of Hezbollah. Referring to the Iranians, he said, “I wish I could see their eyes and their faces when their lower lips drop in astonishment at what the … Prosecutor General will include in his report.
Aboul Gheit implied that the Hezbollah cell – and Hezbollah maneuverings in Egypt – was part of a wider Iranian plan, rather than the Lebanese group’s own initiative.
“Iran [and its followers] wants Egypt to become a maid of honor for the crowned Iranian queen when she enters the Middle East, he said satirically.
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah had admitted that Shihab was a member of the group.
“What he [Shihab] was doing on the Egyptian-Palestinian border was logistical work to help the Palestinian brothers transport equipment for the resistance in Palestine . If helping the Palestinians is a crime, I officially admit to my crime, Nasrallah said Friday.
Nasrallah did deny however that there was any intent to carry out operations on Egyptian soil or attack sites in Egypt.
“Our man was smuggling arms to the Strip, but the rest of the accusations about terror attacks in Egypt are one big lie, he said.
