Obama, Cameron, Merkel and Netanyahu
investigated for espionage in Egypt
Complaint brought against world
leaders for alleged spying in Egypt also calls for a ban on joint military
operations and passage through the Suez Canal
Ahram Online , Monday 5 May 2014
US president Barack Obama (Photo:
Reuters)
Egypt's
Prosecutor-General Hisham Barakat has ordered an investigation into US
President Barack Obama and other world leaders over spying allegations.
The complaint
was made by lawyer Ahmed Abdel-Salam against Obama, British Prime Minister
David Cameron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu.
Abdel-Salam
referred to reports from several Egyptian media outlets stating that Egypt's
General Intelligence apparatus had arrested two spy rings accused of sending
reports about Egypt to foreign intelligence agencies during the country's 2012
presidential elections.
The lawyer,
who demanded that Egyptian authorities include the world leaders on Cairo
International Airport's watch list, added that the alleged spying amounts to
"clear violations of international agreements and treaties and is
considered a declaration of war against Egypt".
Abdel-Salam
also called on Egypt to cut its relations with these countries and put on trial
any Egyptian citizen who cooperates with them or provides them with
information, in accordance with article 82 of the Egyptian penal
code. He also called for an end to all cooperation between the Egyptian
army and these countries, as well as a ban on their ships passing through the
Suez Canal.
The world
leaders are not expected to be questioned in person.
The US first
came under global attack in 2013 after leaks revealed by Edward Snowden – a
computer professional and former employee at the Central Intelligence Agency
(CIA) – showed that the US had employed mass surveillance technology to gather
information.
Snowden's
disclosures included the revelation that the Americans had tapped the mobile
phone of Merkel.
Relations
between Washington and Cairo slumped following the military's ouster of
Islamist president Mohamed Morsi last summer, following massive protests
against him.
Last October,
the US withheld a large chunk of its annual $1.3 billion in military aid to
Egypt to express its displeasure at a violent crackdown on Morsi's supporters.
Washington,
however, has since treaded carefully by refraining from calling Morsi's removal
a coup, in a bid to maintain strategic ties with its key Middle East
ally.
1 comment:
I HOPE the request is taken.
for the bullies will only laugh at the laws, and then lie that they do not brake laws, and then laugh at us for believing them.
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