Informed sources have told Al-Masry Al-Youm that some members of the Palestinian movement Fatah are involved in the case of Hezbollah's Egyptian cell, which is led by the Lebanese Sami Shehab. Egypt's Supreme State Security Prosecution is carrying out investigations with the other members of the organization.
The sources said that security forces arrested two Fatah members a few weeks ago after they had entered Sinai from Gaza through a tunnel on the Egyptian-Palestinian borders. The two are called Mohamed Ramadan Abdel Fattah Baraka and Nadal Fathy Hassan, and the Prosecution began questioning them on Tuesday, the sources added.
Montasser el-Zayat, the head of the defense, told Al-Masry Al-Youm that Baraka and Hassan lived in El Gorah (El-Arish, Sinai) with a person called Abou Omar. He then said this person was trying to smuggle a group of Africans to Israel.
During the investigations, the accused admitted they had thought about traveling to Sudan and then to Syria and Lebanon to be trained on suicide operations. They also said they then planned to carry out a suicide operation in Tel Aviv (Israel).
They said they joined the Hezbollah cell after meeting Sami Shehab at the beginning of last year, after crossing into Egypt from the Gaza Strip. They then affirmed they returned to the Gaza Strip before being smuggled to Sinai by some Fatah members to join Hezbollah's cell.
Meanwhile, some Egyptian defendants said during the investigations that they had only been trained in Libya and Sudan. Each of them then talked about their role in the organization.
The prosecution continued its investigations with the rest of the accused. It charged them with spying and possessing weapons and explosive materials, and decided to impound a computer and a CD which was likely to contain important documents that would condemn the organization members.
Meanwhile, the Egyptian Foreign Ministry denied receiving intelligence support from abroad in this case. Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit said those who said this just wanted to fish in troubled waters.
For its part, Iran has rejected Egypt's accusations to Hezbollah in Lebanon, saying they aimed to influence the upcoming legislative elections in Lebanon.
Fars News Agency (FNA) reported on the Iranian Foreign Minister as saying that the prejudices against Hezbollah and its secretary general Hassan Nasrallah were nothing new.
