Spy Trial of Jordanian, Israeli Begins in Egypt

The trial opened in Egypt on Sunday of a Jordanian and Israeli charged with spying for the Jewish state's intelligence services and was swiftly adjourned to next week, an Agence France Presse reporter said.

The Israeli defendant was being tried in absentia.

Jordanian telecoms engineer Bashar Ibrahim Abu Zeid and the Israeli "officer with the Mossad" are accused of having worked "to damage the national interests of Egypt."

Abu Zeid was arrested in April has since been questioned on "espionage activities carried out with his Israeli accomplice on the run for the Israeli intelligence services."

The Israeli had allegedly tasked the Jordanian with recruiting Egyptians working in the telecoms sector "to obtain technical data," and they had devised a system to bug telephone calls in Egypt.

During the hearing Abu Zeid repeatedly stressed his innocence, calling out from the defendant's cage that the prosecution had forged his answers during questioning.

The trial was adjourned until to October 9.