Two Egyptians living in Doha, Qatar, were convicted for conducting espionage activities and sentenced to life imprisonment four months ago. One of the convicts, Nabil Abdel Basir, was a former general manager of special editions for Qatari newspaper Al-Raya. The identity of the other convict remains unknown, however, as Qatari authorities have refused to provide any information about the case. Egyptian colleagues of Abdel Basir said he had been in charge of advertising for the newspaper rather than editorial content. According to informed sources, the investigation took three years, during which Abdel Basir had remained free. He was detained, however, once the lawsuit against him was raised in court. They also suggested that the nation for which he was working was an Asian country. The same sources added that Egypt's ambassador to Qatar had been informed of the charges, but that it remained unclear whether the embassy had assigned lawyers to defend the two men. In Cairo, meanwhile, Assistant Foreign Minister for Egyptian Expatriate Affairs Mohamed Abdel Hakam said he had not heard of the case. “We'll brief the media of developments once we know more,” he told Al-Masry Al-Youm. Translated from the Arabic Edition.
