CAIRO: Egypt expects to swap US-Israeli dual national Ilan Grapel, detained in June on spying charges, for Egyptian prisoners held in Israel, an Egyptian security source said on Monday.
The swap would take place after Israel completes a separate prisoner exchange with Hamas involving Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, but the two cases are not linked, the source told Reuters.
"After the Shalit deal is done, there will be an arrangement to swap Grapel for a number of Egyptian prisoners in Israeli prisons," the source said. "But the two deals are separate and not linked."
The United States embassy in Cairo had no immediate comment on the Grapel case.
A deal to release Grapel in exchange for 81 Egyptians held in Israel is imminent, unnamed Israeli officials told public radio on Monday.
Details of a possible agreement for Grapel’s release were first reported by Egyptian state-owned Al-Ahram newspaper on Sunday, which said Israel and Egypt were close to agreeing a deal "in which the spy Ilan Grapel… will be released in return for all Egyptians held in Israeli prisons."
Israel is holding 81 Egyptian prisoners, including three children, most of whom are facing criminal charges, including illegal entry to Israel, drug trafficking and arms possession.
Negotiations on an exchange are almost finished, the paper said.
"The success of the Egyptian mediation of the Shalit deal and Israel’s formal apology to Egypt for the death of Egyptian soldiers killed on the border by Israeli fire, certainly cleared the road for making the Grapel deal," it said.
Grapel, 27, was arrested in Egypt on accusations he was a spy out to recruit agents and monitor events in the revolt that overthrew President Hosni Mubarak.
He has not faced trial yet. US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta called on Egypt this month to release Grapel but denied he was involved in direct negotiations over the matter. Egyptian security at the time also denied there were any negotiations over his release.
Grapel’s mother said at the time that her son, a law student in the United States, was working for Saint Andrew’s Refugee Services, a non-governmental organization, in Cairo.
Grapel emigrated to Israel in 2005 from New York and served in its military in the 2006 Lebanon war.
Over the years, Egypt has arrested a number of people accused of spying for Israel.
In 2007, Egypt convicted a 31-year-old Egyptian-Canadian dual nation of spying for Israel. Three Israelis were charged in absentia. Israel dismissed the case as a fabrication.
In 1996, Egypt sentenced Azzam Azzam, an Israeli Arab textile worker, to 15 years in jail for spying for Israel. Egypt said Azzam had passed messages in women’s underwear using invisible ink.
Both Azzam and Israel denied the charges. He was released after serving eight years as part of a deal that included the release of six Egyptian students in Israel.
