Egypt

Jordanian and Israeli charged with tapping Egypt’s phone network for Mossad

Two men, one Israeli and one Jordanian, were referred by the Egyptian public prosecutor on Sunday for trial before the Supreme State Security Court on charges of spying for the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad.

Egyptian security forces arrested Jordanian communications engineer Bashar Ibrahim Abu Zeid in March. He is alleged to have entered Egypt after the 25 January uprising to work as an agent for Mossad under cover of setting up in the telecommunications business in Egypt.

The second man, Ofer Harari, is accused of being a Mossad officer responsible for overseeing Abu Zeid's activities in Egypt. He is to be tried in absentia, having already fled Egypt.

According to Egyptian intelligence services, Abu Zeid and Harari agreed to intercept international calls coming into Egypt and to transfer them to Israel, allowing Israeli security services to eavesdrop on calls of relevance to Egypt's national security.

Investigators also claim that Harari charged Abu Zeid with searching for Egyptian intelligence agents working in the telecommunications field and offering them his services, offering to sell them Israeli-made call transfer equipment for the benefit of Israeli intelligence services.

Abu Zeid was also charged with collecting data on certain employees working in the telecommunications field in Egypt, especially those working at Egyptian mobile operators and who traveled abroad for work, aiming to recruit suitable candidates to work for Mossad.

Translated from the Arabic Edition

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