A court handed out severe prison sentences and fines on two Egyptians accused of passing confidential information to Israel over a four year period. Two Israeli intelligence officers were also sentenced to life, in absentia.
Ramzy Al-Shebini was given a life sentence of 25 years, and female associate Sahar Salama was given 15 years for charges of providing Israeli spy agency Mossad with information between 2008 and 2012.
The intelligence allegedly transferred to Israel included “strategic information relating to the country’s internal situation and information about the military’s acquisition of German submarines,” according to the charge sheet reported by AP.
The Israeli “accomplices” sentenced in absentia have not been named, but are believed to work within Israeli intelligence.
Ofir Gendelman, a spokesperson for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office, said “we are not commenting on this”, when approached by Daily News Egypt. A similar request to another Israeli PM spokesperson was not returned at the time of print.
The Mossad intelligence agency is separate from Israel’s interior or defence departments and reports directly to the office of the Prime Minister.
The verdict on the two Egyptian defendants established by a court in Giza also handed out a fine of over EGP 500,000 to Al-Shebini, and over EGP 80,000 to Salama.
In two other cases recently, an Egyptian and a Jordanian telecommunications worker were given 10 year prison sentences for similar cases.
Egypt has good political and military relations with Israel since the 1979 peace treaty, the Egyptian public and often the government media frequently slam and lay blame on the neighbouring country. President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi recently told the Washington Post that he speaks to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “a lot”.
