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Al-Ahram Weekly 4 -10 February 1999 Issue No. 415 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 4 -10 February 1999 Issue No. 415
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Book Fair Economy Opinion Culture Features Living Travel Sports People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Keeling before Israel?
By Hamza HendawiA plea bargain deal, under which the prosecution replaced spying charges against two suspected Israeli agents with less serious counts, appeared to have been vindicated when a Cypriot court sentenced them to three years in jail.
But the custodial sentence meted out by Judge George Aristis on Monday has done little to allay suspicions that the government of this Mediterranean holiday island may have caved in to pressure from Israel and others to drop the more serious spying and conspiracy charges.
The case of suspected Mossad agents Udi Hargov and Igal Damary has also underlined the precarious position of the island, widely likened to a little guy in a rough neighbourhood, and highlighted some of the difficulties it faces in its efforts to build up a credible army without arousing the interest of its neighbours.
The dropping of the spying and conspiracy charges, which carry a maximum penalty of 10 years in jail, has predictably triggered off a political storm on the island, with opposition leaders accusing the government of giving in to outside pressure and leaving the country open to ridicule.
The opposition's rage found a favourable response from many ordinary Cypriots still smarting from the government's spectacular climbdown in December, when it cancelled the deployment of Russian anti-aircraft missiles in the face of Turkish threats to destroy them and the opposition of Western powers.
Turkey took over the northern third of Cyprus in 1974, when it invaded the island following a brief coup by Greek Cypriots seeking unity with Greece. It has since maintained some 35,000 troops in a breakaway state declared by Turkish Cypriots in 1983.
The growing military ties between Israel and Turkey have set alarm bells ringing in Cyprus despite repeated attempts by the government of Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to allay the island's fears. At the time of their arrest on 6 November, local media reports speculated that Hargov and Damary may have been spying on behalf of Turkey which is known to have been sharing military intelligence with Israel for years. Cyprus, at the time, was expected to receive the Russian missiles.
The prosecutor, George Papaioannou, told the court last week that the suspects were at the fishing village of Zigi on the island's southern coast when "sophisticated military equipment" was being unloaded at the nearby Vassiliko port in what he described as a "very sensitive army operation."
Police also found in their possession radio frequency scanners, a lap-top computer, cellular phones and eight maps of Cyprus. During an earlier visit to Cyprus in October, when they also stayed at Zigi, large-scale war games between Greek Cypriot and Greek forces were under way in nearby areas.
But the Israelis' defence lawyer, Antis Triantafyllides, told the court that his clients were members of an elite anti-terrorist group who came to Cyprus to collect information on a possible terrorist attack against Israeli civilians. That version was rejected by Papaioannou and later by Judge Aristis when passing sentence.
Attorney-General Alecos Markides has insisted throughout that the replacement of the spying charges by less serious counts was not the result of outside pressure nor amounted to a climbdown. Rather, he said, it was an attempt to secure a conviction of the two Israelis. Had the trial proceeded on the earlier charges, he argued, many military secrets would have had to be divulged during public hearings.
"I believe under the circumstances that our side moved correctly and it was done in the public interest. It's a satisfactory result," said Markides.
But he admitted that his Israeli counterpart, Elyakim Rubinstein, had come to see him twice in Cyprus about the case and that US senators and a cabinet minister from a European Union country he did not name had approached President Clerides over the case.
The two Israelis were arrested in Zigi after the owner of the holiday flat they were renting became suspicious. They initially faced charges of conspiracy, spying and illegal possession of telecommunications equipment. They had entered a not guilty plea to all three.
Under the plea bargain deal, they admitted to the charge relating to the telecommunications equipment and pleaded guilty to a new charge of approaching a restricted area. The first charge carries a maximum penalty of one year in jail, while the second can be punished by up to six years.
However, their conviction on lesser charges, may eventually make it easier for Clerides to grant a presidential pardon in a few months' time if the defence appeals for one. Such a move is not without precedent.
Clerides has over the years granted pardons to many foreigners convicted and jailed on the island. Recent cases include Israelis jailed for peddling counterfeit dollar bills, Americans convicted of beating an off-duty Cypriot policeman and an Irish woman convicted of making a false rape claim. Three Israelis caught red-handed tampering with the telephone switch box of the Iranian Embassy in Nicosia were fined and sent home in 1991.
