Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has announced that he has no plans to pardon an Israeli citizen sentenced by a Cairo court on charges of espionage.
Mubarak told reporters Sunday that he blamed Israel for its “mishandling” of the situation and “arrogance” in the case of Azam Azam.
Mubarak said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had insulted the Egyptian judicial system when he called the verdict in the case “twisted.”
Azam, a mechanic at an Israeli-Egyptian textile plant in Cairo, was convicted Aug. 31 of spying for Israel and sentenced to 15 years in prison with hard labor.
Netanyahu said earlier this month that he expected Mubarak to pardon the 35- year-old Druse man.
Azam, who was arrested last November in Cairo, was charged with giving women’s underwear soaked with invisible ink to an Egyptian national, Emad Abdel-Hamid Ismail, who then used the ink to write messages to Israel about the state of Egyptian factories.
The Cairo court sentenced Ismail to life imprisonment for being an accomplice.
Israeli officials have insisted that Azam was not a government agent.
His arrest and trial, which began in April, have exacerbated tensions between Israel and Egypt.
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