2007年VOA标准英语-Egypt's Pro-Israel Spy Trials Raise Questions

By Leslie Boctor
Cairo
24 April 2007

Earlier this week an Egyptian court sentenced an Egyptian Canadian man to 15 years in prison for spying on behalf of Israel. In the same week, Egyptian authorities charged another man with giving Israel confidential¹ reports on Egypt's nuclear program. The two cases have generated a lot of attention, speculation² and questions. From VOA's Middle East Bureau in Cairo, Leslie Boctor examines the wider political effect these espionage³ cases have in the region.

Mohammed al-Attar flashes a victory sign as he is led into the Egyptian State Security Emergency Court in the New Cairo suburb of Cairo, 21 Apr 2007

"I have never done anything wrong at all and I have never ever cheated on Canada. Once I received my Canadian citizenship⁴ I did swear to be a good Canadian citizen and I never did anything wrong," said Mohamad El Attar, the Egyptian Canadian who was charged with spying on behalf of Israel while living in Canada and Turkey.

Earlier this week, he was sentenced to 15 years in prison.

The prosecution⁵ said El Attar used his position at a Toronto bank and his ties to the gay community to track information on Arabs living in Canada. El Attar claimed he had been tortured and coerced⁶ into confessing to a crime he did not commit.

Israeli foreign ministry⁷ spokesman Mark Regev told the Associated Press "Israel categorically denies" any involvement in the case.

El Attar's case remains⁸ a tangle⁹ of contradictory¹⁰ facts and unanswered questions. His allegations of torture have not been investigated.

Earlier this month, Amnesty International released a scathing¹¹ report on Egypt's use of torture in prisons and police stations.

Said Haddidi, a researcher with Amnesty International, says the country's emergency law has created a parallel emergency justice system that does not respect a suspect's right to a fair trial.

"People are not allowed prompt access to lawyers and the lawyers on the other hand are not allowed fair access to the documents," he said. "And when these defendants¹² come before the court, they deny the charges brought against them, they say they have been tortured by state security services and there is no proper investigation¹³ in these allegations of torture."

Aside from questions of a fair trial, many are questioning the reasons and the timing¹⁴ behind the recent spy cases in Egypt.

handout15 photo shows Egyptian engineer Mohamed Saber, employee of Cairo's atomic energy commission" hspace="2" src="/upimg/allimg/070601/1039471.jpg" width="210" vspace="2" border="0" />

An undated handout photo shows Egyptian engineer Mohamed Saber, employee of Cairo's atomic energy commission

The week before El Attar's verdict, Egyptian authorities announced they had charged engineer Mohamed Saber with giving Israel confidential reports on the state nuclear program. In both cases, a number of other foreign nationals have been charged in absentia.

In a similar case five years ago, Egyptian engineer Sherif al-Filali was found guilty of spying for Israel and sentenced to 15 years in prison.

An editorial in the independent Masr il Youm newspaper said Egypt has become a "factory of spies," and the government is producing the spies as a ploy¹⁶ to draw attention away from domestic problems.

Emad Gad¹⁷, an analyst¹⁸ with the Al Ahram Center, agrees. He says the authorities have arrested countless¹⁹ spies, but do not publicize all of them.

"Many spies have been arrested but the Egyptian authorities did not publish or ask the media to write about these issues because they solved these kind of issues with Israel through security organizations between Israel and Egypt," said Gad.

"But when they announce about a new spy or a network, I think, there is a political aspect to announce about this network," he added.

Egyptian trials of suspected Israeli spies have strained relations between Israel and Egypt, the first Arab nation to sign a peace agreement with Israel. Gad says because of the shifting power in the region, and Saudi Arabia's new willingness to work with Israel, Egypt has reason to reassert its position in the region.

He says the recent cases of espionage are likely intended to send a message to the Israelis and influence other Arab nations.

"I think perhaps they think that this issue is just a message to the Israelis that you cannot minimize the Egyptian rule and that Egypt can control the political operations in the region," he said.

"Egypt can convert its relations with Israel from warming up peace to perhaps cold peace and in a situation like that, cold peace or cold war, it is difficult for many Arab countries to deal with Israel," Gad continued.

In 1996 an Egyptian court sentenced Azzam Azzam, an Arab Israeli, to 15 years in prison for spying on behalf of Israel. Authorities said he had sent encoded messages in women's underwear from a Cairo textile factory using invisible ink. He was released in a prisoner swap²⁰ with Israel.

Azzam maintains his innocence²¹. He says he was tortured and signed a blank sheet of paper for his confession²² because he feared for his life. He says the Egyptian government uses the same tactics in other espionage cases.

 

Azzam says every so often, the Egyptian government and its secret service open their files and pull out a spy folder²³ and simply change the names around. He says, "one time it was Sherif El-Felaly, the other Azzam Azzam and now El Attar - and there will certainly be more."

Although Egypt and Israel have been at peace for decades, Egyptians are still highly mistrustful of their Israeli neighbors. Among Egyptians, there are few crimes as damaging to a person's reputation as treason involving Israel.

With engineer Mohamed Saber's trial scheduled to start later this month, the rumor²⁴ mill in Cairo is still in high gear, questioning if these men have really betrayed their country, and if so why.

1 confidential   

adj.秘（机）密的，表示信任的，担任机密工作的

参考例句：

• He refused to allow his secretary to handle confidential letters.他不让秘书处理机密文件。
• We have a confidential exchange of views.我们推心置腹地交换意见。

2 speculation   

n.思索，沉思；猜测；投机

参考例句：

• Her mind is occupied with speculation.她的头脑忙于思考。
• There is widespread speculation that he is going to resign.人们普遍推测他要辞职。

3 espionage   

n.间谍行为，谍报活动

参考例句：

• The authorities have arrested several people suspected of espionage.官方已经逮捕了几个涉嫌从事间谍活动的人。
• Neither was there any hint of espionage in Hanley's early life.汉利的早期生活也毫无进行间谍活动的迹象。

4 citizenship   

n.市民权，公民权，国民的义务(身份)

参考例句：

• He was born in Sweden,but he doesn't have Swedish citizenship.他在瑞典出生，但没有瑞典公民身分。
• Ten years later,she chose to take Australian citizenship.十年后，她选择了澳大利亚国籍。

5 prosecution   

n.起诉，告发，检举，执行，经营

参考例句：

• The Smiths brought a prosecution against the organizers.史密斯家对组织者们提出起诉。
• He attempts to rebut the assertion made by the prosecution witness.他试图反驳原告方证人所作的断言。

6 coerced   

v.迫使做( coerce的过去式和过去分词 )；强迫；（以武力、惩罚、威胁等手段）控制；支配

参考例句：

• They were coerced into negotiating a settlement. 他们被迫通过谈判解决。
• He was coerced into making a confession. 他被迫招供。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。

8 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

9 tangle   

n.纠缠；缠结；混乱；v.(使)缠绕；变乱

参考例句：

• I shouldn't tangle with Peter.He is bigger than me.我不应该与彼特吵架。他的块头比我大。
• If I were you, I wouldn't tangle with them.我要是你，我就不跟他们争吵。

10 contradictory   

adj.反驳的，反对的，抗辩的；n.正反对，矛盾对立

参考例句：

• The argument is internally contradictory.论据本身自相矛盾。
• What he said was self-contradictory.他讲话前后不符。

11 scathing   

adj.（言词、文章）严厉的，尖刻的；不留情的adv.严厉地，尖刻地v.伤害，损害（尤指使之枯萎）( scathe的现在分词)

参考例句：

• a scathing attack on the new management 针对新的管理层的猛烈抨击
• Her speech was a scathing indictment of the government's record on crime. 她的演讲强烈指责了政府在犯罪问题上的表现。 来自《简明英汉词典》

12 defendants   

被告( defendant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The courts heard that the six defendants had been coerced into making a confession. 法官审判时发现6位被告人曾被迫承认罪行。
• As in courts, the defendants are represented by legal counsel. 与法院相同，被告有辩护律师作为代表。 来自英汉非文学 - 政府文件

13 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

14 timing   

n.时间安排，时间选择

参考例句：

• The timing of the meeting is not convenient.会议的时间安排不合适。
• The timing of our statement is very opportune.我们发表声明选择的时机很恰当。

15 handout   

n.散发的文字材料；救济品

参考例句：

• I read the handout carefully.我仔细看了这份分发的资料。
• His job was distributing handout at the street-corner.他的工作是在街头发传单。

16 ploy   

n.花招，手段

参考例句：

• I think this is just a government ploy to deceive the public.我认为这只是政府欺骗公众的手段。
• Christmas should be a time of excitement and wonder,not a cynical marketing ploy.圣诞节应该是兴奋和美妙的时刻，而不该是一种肆无忌惮的营销策略。

17 gad   

n.闲逛；v.闲逛

参考例句：

• He is always on the gad.他老是闲荡作乐。
• Let it go back into the gloaming and gad with a lot of longing.就让它回到暮色中，满怀憧憬地游荡吧。

18 analyst   

n.分析家，化验员；心理分析学家

参考例句：

• What can you contribute to the position of a market analyst?你有什么技能可有助于市场分析员的职务？
• The analyst is required to interpolate values between standards.分析人员需要在这些标准中插入一些值。

19 countless   

adj.无数的，多得不计其数的

参考例句：

• In the war countless innocent people lost their lives.在这场战争中无数无辜的人丧失了性命。
• I've told you countless times.我已经告诉你无数遍了。

20 swap   

n.交换；vt.交换，用...作交易

参考例句：

• I will swap you my bicycle for your radio.我想拿我的自行车换你的收音机。
• This comic was a swap that I got from Nick.这本漫画书是我从尼克那里换来的。

21 innocence   

n.无罪；天真；无害

参考例句：

• There was a touching air of innocence about the boy.这个男孩有一种令人感动的天真神情。
• The accused man proved his innocence of the crime.被告人经证实无罪。

22 confession   

n.自白，供认，承认

参考例句：

• Her confession was simply tantamount to a casual explanation.她的自白简直等于一篇即席说明。
• The police used torture to extort a confession from him.警察对他用刑逼供。

23 folder   

n.纸夹，文件夹

参考例句：

• Peter returned the plan and charts to their folder.彼得把这份计划和表格放回文件夹中。
• He draws the document from its folder.他把文件从硬纸夹里抽出来。

24 rumor   

n.谣言，谣传，传说

参考例句：

• The rumor has been traced back to a bad man.那谣言经追查是个坏人造的。
• The rumor has taken air.谣言流传开了。