An Egyptian court ruled on Wednesday that the trial of a businessman accused of spying for Israel would be postponed to 14 May.
Tarek Abdel Razek Hussein, a 37-year-old Egyptian businessman who owns an import-export company, was arrested in August on charges of attempting to recruit employees in the telecommunications sector to spy for Israel.
The alleged spy network is said to have included another two alleged Mossad officers who are being tried in absentia.
The Supreme Emergency State Security Court postponed the trial in order to give new members of Hussein’s defense team more time to study the case, a judicial source said.
Egyptian press reports said that Hussein is also accused of recruiting agents for the Israeli Intelligence Agency, Mossad, in Syria and Lebanon. State Security prosecution alleges Hussein received $37,000 to recruit spies.
In the indictment, the prosecution accused the three defendants of spying for a foreign country from 2008 through 2010, and harming Egyptian national security.
The indictment said that Hussein agreed while abroad to feed Israel information about telecommunications officials and help select those who would be willing to cooperate with Mossad.
Hussein asserts his innocence, and said during the trial that the electronic devices the prosecution used as evidence against him did not belong to him. He also added that he was tortured during investigations in order to extract a confession.
