JERUSALEM: Israel says its diplomats have visited a US-born Israeli who is being held in Egypt on spying charges.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor says the two members of Israel’s diplomatic mission to Egypt saw Ilan Grapel on Tuesday and found him to be in good shape.
Palmor said on Wednesday that the embassy personnel also spoke with officials from the Egyptian prosecutor’s office.
Grapel was arrested at a Cairo hotel on Sunday and accused of sedition and inciting Egyptians to clash with the country’s military leadership.
Israeli officials say the young man — a law student in the US who has made no secret of his past military service in Israel — is not a spy.
Because the 27-year-old Grapel entered Egypt with his US passport, the American Embassy in Cairo is taking the lead in his case.
