Azzam Azzam is an Israeli Druze who was convicted of spying for Israel by Egypt, and jailed there for 8 years.

Arrest and trial

Azzam Azzam is an Israeli Druze textile worker born in 1963 in the village of Mrar. He had been working at a joint business venture between an Egyptian plant and an Israeli textile firm at which he was employed, running a textile plant, when he was arrested in Cairo in November 1996. Originally accused of industrial espionage, he was later accused of using women's underwear soaked in invisible ink to pass information to Israel's intelligence agency Mossad.

The trial opened on April 24, 1997, but was postponed until May 18, when it was discovered that the lawyer for his Egyptian co-defendant, Emad Abdel-Hamid Ismail, was not present. In the interim,the Egyptian Lawyers' Syndicate received a memo signed by 12 attorneys, stating that by defending Azzam, his lawyer, Farid Deeb, "polluted the distinguished history of the Lawyers' Syndicate". The letter demanded that disciplinary action be carried out against Deeb for "undertaking the defense of the Israeli spy"; in response the Syndicate decided to bring Deeb before its disciplinary committee on June 11. (Al-Wafd, May 14).

At the May 18 trial, a representative of the Lawyers' Syndicate requested that the court disqualify Deeb from defending Azzam, claiming that Azzam had acted against the Egyptian national interests. The court summarily denied the request, insisting that every individual had a right to legal representation. As well, the prosecution added the indictment that Azzam was a Mossad agent intending to harm the interests of Egypt, which allowed the prosecution to request the death penalty.

In August 1997 Azzam was convicted of helping to send news about Egyptian industrial cities to Mossad, and sentenced to 15 years jail at hard labor; his co-defendant Ismail was sentenced to 25 years. Both Azzam and the Israeli government denied the charges. [1] [2]

Freed by Egypt

After Shin Bet (Israel's internal security agency) head Avi Dichter had negotiated with his Egyptian counterparts, Azzam was released on December 5, 2004. In return, Israel freed six jailed Egyptian students who had entered Israel armed with knives and an air gun and been accused of conspiring to kill Israelis (the students parents maintained that they had gone to Israel to look for work). Immediately after returning to Israel, Azzam had a medical checkup and an "informal chat" with Shin Bet members. Shin Bet officials insisted this was not a debriefing and that Azzam would not be debriefed; however, they were curious to know what the Egyptians believed he knew.

Azzam expressed gratitude to the government of Israel, and to Ariel Sharon in particular, telling him "I love you very much and I don't know how to express this. This has happened only thanks to you. I don't have the words to thank you for your determination. I told my brothers that if I wasn't released while Arik Sharon was prime minister, I would never be released. I am fortunate and proud to have been born in Israel."[3] However, he condemned Arab members of the Knesset, who had appealed to Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, demanding that Azzam not be released from prison until all the Palestinians held in Israeli prisons were released. Azzam insisted that they had acted against the interests of Israel's citizens, and in favour of terrorists. [4] An official Israeli government press release stated, "Prime Minister Sharon reiterated his deep gratitude to Egyptian President Mubarak and to Gen. Soliman and emphasized that this humanitarian gesture would make an additional contribution towards the deepening of bilateral relations." [5]