Judicial Official: Egypt Jails 2 on Israel Spy Charges

A court in Egypt has sentenced a man and woman to lengthy jail terms and slapped them with large fines after convicting them of spying for Israel, a judicial official said Saturday.

Their two accomplices -- Israeli intelligence officials -- were sentenced in absentia to life terms, the official added.

The man, Ramzy al-Shebini, was sentenced to life, and the woman, Sahar Salama, to 15 years. In Egypt, a life term generally means 25 years.

The charge sheet said that, between 2008 and 2012, the two agreed to pass on to the Israelis "strategic information relating to the country's internal situation and information about the military's acquisition of German submarines."

In the verdict handed down by the court in Giza province, the man was also fined 80,000 euros ($87,000) and the woman 10,000 euros.

In two other cases over the past few months, an Egyptian and a Jordanian telecommunications engineer have been jailed for 10 years on similar charges.