CAIRO - An Egyptian police tribunal on Sunday sentenced a police officer to six months in jail for refusing orders to go on guard duty at the Israeli embassy in Cairo, police sources said.

Mohamed Khalaf Hassan Ibrahim, a sergeant in his late 30s, had been in hospital on hunger strike in protest at his detention, but he was able to attend the court session on Sunday.

The Egyptian police force is run on military lines and, as with military courts run by the armed forces, there is no appeal against the verdicts of the police tribunal.

	Advertisement

Egypt in 1979 became the first Arab state to make peace with Israel, but many Egyptians still regard Israel as an enemy because of the long-running Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

In a similar case in Britain last year, the police force excused a Muslim firearms office from guard duty at the Israeli embassy. But it said it took the decision because of a possible safety risk and not because of the man's personal views.

Ibrahim's lawyer was not immediately available to explain his client's refusal to protect the Israeli embassy.