'Hezbollah surveyed Egyptian towns close to Israeli border'

Hezbollah mapped Egyptian towns close to the Israeli border, the London-based Arabic language newspaper Asharq al-Awsat reported Sunday.

According to the report, Nimer Fahmi and Nasser Abu Umra, both suspected of being involved in a Hezbollah cell operating in Egypt, passed on information about small Bedouin settlements in the Sinai Peninsula to the Iran-backed militant organization.

Asharq al-Awsat reported that Fahmi received computerized forms on which he was supposed to fill in information about the number of residents, number of schools and entrances and exits to the villages, as well as a list of the prominent people living there.

Mohammed Kablan, the man in charge of Hezbollah's intelligence operations, and Mohammed Youssef Mansour, also known as Sami Shihab, ordered Fahmi and Abu Umra to send them information on places in Sinai from which it would be possible to infiltrate Israel, as well as the positions of Egyptian police.

Kablan told the two that the information was necessary so that extra operatives could arrive in the area to "support the resistance using jihad."

Egypt prosecutors seek death penalty for Hezbollah ringleader

Egyptian prosecutors are demanding the death penalty for the Hezbollah operative who is alleged to have run a spy ring that planned attacks in Sinai, according to a report in Sunday editions of the newspaper Al Hayyat.

The investigation of Mohammed Mansur, who is also known as Sami Shihab, has concluded. He is expected to be brought up on espionage charges that carry a maximum penalty of death or life imprisonment with hard labor.

Al Hayyat also reported that Shihab's attorney is demanding that all statements made by Shihab to authorities not be admitted into evidence because they were made during late-night interrogation sessions that lasted some 10 hours.

Shihab's lawyer says Egyptian authorities failed to take his client's mental and psychological state into account during his stay in custody.

Shihab will be charged with membership in an underground organization with the aim of toppling the regime, threatening the public order, use of terrorism to achieve its aims, ties with a foreign organization, divulging information without authorization, receiving military and financial aid from a foreign agent in contravention of the law, and possession of weapons and explosives.

The trial is expected to commence within a few days in civilian court. Egyptian authorities decided that the case will be heard in criminal court so as to preemptively counter Hezbollah claims that Shihad did not receive a fair trial in a military court.

The Al Hayyat reported noted that many of the 50 individuals mentioned as being involved in the affair have yet to be arrested. Egyptian authorities are having difficulty in ascertaining the exact identity of many of the operatives in the spy ring who are only known to their colleagues by their aliases.