A court in Cairo has sentenced an Egyptian to 10 years in jail and two Mossad officers to life in prison on charges of spying for Israel, a judicial source said late on Saturday.
Egyptian Mohamed Ali Abdelbaky Hassanin was convicted of spying for Israeli spy agency Mossad during 2011 and through 2013, as well as passing to the two Mossad officers military secrets and information about traffic in the Suez Canal, a strategic global trade route between Asia and Europe.
Hassanin, accused of accepting a large amount of money for spying, was also found guilty of carrying out espionage for Lebanon’s Hezbollah group and the Syrian army.
The two Israeli officers, Benjamin Shaul and David Meir, were convicted in absentia.
Israel signed a peace treaty with Egypt since 1979.
In October 2011, Egypt freed a US-Israeli dual national, Ilan Grapel, under a prisoner swap deal that saw Israel free 25 Egyptian prisoners, after he was arrested in Cairo and accused of working for Israel’s Mossad and sowing sectarian strife in Egypt, allegations he denied.