Egypt: Trial of Hezbollah spies in motion

This Sunday, Egypt brought 26 alleged Hezbollah agents to the stand, where they were formally accused of passing information to a foreign organization, possession of explosive material and planning terrorist attacks on Egyptian tourist sites. All of the defendants, detained in April of this year, pled ‘not guilty.’

Not all the men are accused of the same charges, nor are they all Egyptian. Among the defendants are five Palestinians, two Lebanese and a Sudanese. The remainder are Egyptian, several of whom declared at the trial, “We live and die as Egyptians. We will never betray our country.” Others sung (literally) a somewhat different tune, chanting their faith in the Muslim prophet Mohammed: “We sacrifice ourselves to you, oh messenger of God.”

The Lebanese men are accused of masterminding the group – recruiting for, financing and actually planning the Hezbollah terrorist agenda in Egypt. Hezbollah leader Nasrallah says that Sami Chehab, one of the Lebanese men, was based in Egypt to support the Gaza Palestinians in their fight against Israel by supplying weapons.

The arrests and subsequent trial are indicative of the caution that non-militant Islamic states (think Egypt, Saudi Arabia) are taking to show the more extreme states, like Shi’ite Iran, that they are not going to sit around and turn the other cheek as terrorist groups like the Iranian-directed Hezbollah carry out their violent plans on Sunni turf.

Tension between Egypt and Hezbollah are mounting. In addition to the present trial, Hezbollah accused Cairo of contributing to Israel’s attack on Gaza earlier this year.

Meanwhile, various defendant rights groups are saying the Egypt has, for the last two decades or so, used military and emergency courts to secure convictions with severe repercussions against Islamic militants. The Hezbollah spy trial began yesterday in an emergency state security court.

The judge ordered a medical examination for one of the defendants, who had complained of torture and set the next trial date for October 24, 2009.