A 43-year-old Israeli, sentenced to death in Egypt for smuggling heroin, is casting a grim new shadow over the already severely strained relations between Israel and Egypt.
Yosef Tahan, of Ashdod, was transferred to death row in a Cairo prison today while Israeli leaders mulled over how to deal with the situation. His sentence must be approved by the Council of Muftis (Moslem religious leaders) before it is carried out. The official Egyptian news agency, Mena, reported that a decision would be announced on March 6.
The Egyptian government recently mounted an intensive campaign against drug smuggling and the courts have pronounced death sentences on several foreigners convicted of the crime, but none, so far, has been executed. The possibility that Tahan, the father of four young children, could be the first has given this criminal case a political dimension.
He was arrested at Cairo Airport last August on his way home from Bombay. He reportedly confessed to the Egyptian authorities that he planned to smuggle 1.25 kilograms of heroin into Israel to sell. Drug smuggling is a serious crime in Israel, but there is no capital punishment here.
SHOCKED BY THE SENTENCE
Attorney General Yitzhak Zamir said today he was shocked by the sentence and intended to see “what could be done about it.” Israeli officials were careful to limit their comments to the humanitarian aspects involved. Minister-Without-Portfolio Ezer Weizman said today that Israelis involved in criminal activity abroad could not expect Israeli protection.
However, Weizman said if he were asked by the government, he would not hesitate to go to Cairo to exert his influence there to have the death sentence commuted. Tahan’s wife, Violet, 35, has appealed to Weizman to use his friendly relations with Egyptian officials to get the sentence reduced or her husband returned to Israel to stand trial here for drug trafficking.
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