Embarrassing Canadian foreign policy
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This Egyptian case has so much in common with Celil:
- both are alleged of harming their home countries' security and integrity
- Israel is the Harperites' good friend whom should be supported "unconditionally"; and Harper's China policy might have been dictated by people who lobby for an independent Tibet (ironically, the Dalai Lama has announced that he's not interested in an independent Tibet any more)
- both men say they're innocent and are tortured into confessions; Canada has no way to prove it but jump to hoist the human rights flag
- Arab countries do not like to be criticized in public
- China is more ready to cooperate if talks are behind the scene
Cairo court convicts Egyptian-Canadian of spying for Israel, gets 15 years
CAIRO (CP) - An Egyptian-Canadian has been convicted of spying for Israel and sentenced to 15 years in prison by Egypt's State Security Emergency Court.
Three Israelis charged alongside Mohammed el-Attar and tried in absentia also received 15-year sentences during Saturday's court proceedings.
El-Attar, 30, who was also fined 10,000 Egyptian pounds or about C$2,000, had been on trial since Feb. 24 at the Cairo court.
El-Attar, who pleaded not guilty and insisted throughout that a confession had been obtained from him only through torture, flashed a victory sign when he entered the courtroom surrounded by dozens of security personnel.
After the sentence, he was whisked out of court to a waiting police van and was unable to communicate with anyone.
Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay said in a statement Saturday that the Canadian government remains “concerned about a number of aspects in this case.”
“The allegations of mistreatment and torture made by Mr. Attar during his trial are of particular concern,” MacKay said, adding that the issue has been raised repeatedly with Egyptian authorities.
The foreign affairs minister noted that under international human rights law, evidence obtained under torture cannot be the basis for a conviction.
“We call upon Egypt to launch a prompt and impartial investigation into Mr. Attar's claims and to abide by the United Nations Convention Against Torture, to which it became party in 1986,” MacKay said.
Following the verdict, presiding Judge Sayed el-Gohary read his ruling to reporters, saying el-Attar had been “seduced by Satan” into selling out his country.
“He left Egypt to meet with the devil abroad, ignoring all national values and principles,” the judge said.
When questioned by reporters on the fairness of the verdict, the judge shot back that “Egypt is known around the world for its fair courts.”
El Attar's lawyer, Ibrahim el Basyuni, called the verdict harsh.
“There was no proof or evidence, and from all the facts in the case, as I saw it, he should have been acquitted,” el Basyuni said.
“I'm shocked . . . the media's involvement and the hype surrounding his case definitely had an impact on this trial,” he added. “The judge is only human after all and it may have influenced his decision.”
However, a lawyer working on the el-Attar case commented that his sentence could have been much worse, since espionage cases typically carry a 25-year sentence.
There is no appeal process against verdicts of the security court. Only President Hosni Mubarak can overturn the conviction.
A Canadian Embassy spokeswoman said officials will review the decision and continue to provide el-Attar with consular assistance while in prison.
Prosecutors said earlier that el-Attar confessed to spying for Israel and gave a detailed account of his role in collecting information about Egyptians and Arabs living in Turkey and Canada in return for money. He also allegedly received instructions from the three Israelis, said to be intelligence officers, to recruit Christian Egyptian immigrants in Canada using money and sex.
El-Basyuni has said El Attar was coerced and tortured into giving a confession. The defendant told the court in an earlier session that he was tortured with electric shocks and that interrogators threatened to harm his family.
Prosecutor Hani Hamoodah insisted the defendant made the confession freely and without coercion.
Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev told The Associated Press that “Israel categorically denies any involvement in the case.”
Egyptian trials of suspected Israeli spies have often strained relations between Israel and Egypt, even though Egypt became the first of Israel's neighbours to sign a peace agreement with the Jewish state in 1979.
In 1996 Azzam Azzam, an Arab Israeli, was sentenced to 15 years in prison for spying on behalf of Israel. Authorities said he was encoding messages in women's underwear using invisible ink.
Azzam, who was released eight years later in a prisoner swap between the two countries, says media coverage around such cases can do more harm than good.
“All the media hype around such cases that questions democracy and justice usually backfires because Arab leaders do not like to have their countries criticized in public,” he said.
“. . This is a situation that can only be solved between the Canadian and Egyptian government. The only way that Canada can help Mohamed el-Attar is quietly, without bringing attention to the matter.”
El-Attar, a former student at the Islamic Al-Azhar University in Cairo, was arrested Jan. 1 as he returned from abroad to visit his family in Egypt.
His alleged confession claimed he fled Egypt in 2001 and sought asylum with the UN refugee agency offices in Turkey after being sentenced to three years in prison for issuing a bad cheque.
It also alleged el-Attar converted to Christianity in Istanbul and was then sent to Canada, where he delivered more spy reports about Christian Egyptians.
El-Basyuni has denied el-Attar converted or that he received any money from Israel, saying his client supported himself by working in a bank in Canada.
Earlier this week, in a separate ongoing espionage case, Egyptian nuclear engineer Mohamed Sayed Saber Ali, 35, was charged with giving Israel confidential reports on the state nuclear program.
Tags: canada, egypt, israel, china, celil, diplomacy, foreign policy, peter mackay, stephan harper
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