Egyptian convicted of spying for Israel dies in jail

By Cynthia Johnston

CAIRO (Reuters) - An Egyptian engineer convicted in 2002 of spying for Israel has died in a Cairo jail of a possible heart attack while serving a 15-year sentence, security sources said on Monday.

Sherif al-Filali, 42, had initially been found innocent of espionage in 2001. His trial judge called him a true patriot because he turned himself in as soon as he realized he may have been involved in a crime.

But President Hosni Mubarak threw out that acquittal and ordered a retrial in an emergency state security court, where Filali was ultimately convicted in 2002 of trying to collect information and data on Egyptian tourism and a large-scale agricultural project for Israel.

Filali was found dead in his cell on Saturday morning, Egyptian prosecutors said. Security sources speaking on customary condition of anonymity said he had most likely died of a heart attack. They had initially said he was found on Sunday.

Excerpts from a forensic report on Filali's death made available to the media said there were no signs of foul play and no injuries on his body but gave few official clues as to the cause of death.

The medical examiner in charge said simply that Filali's death "resulted from a sharp drop in breathing and circulation and the stopping of his heart muscle". Prosecutors later said Filali had suffered from high blood pressure and had complained to another inmate recently of fatigue.

LONDON DEATH

Filali was among a handful of Egyptians serving jail sentences for passing secrets to Israel. His death comes a week after a nuclear engineer at the state-run Atomic Energy Agency was convicted of spying for Israel's Mossad intelligence agency in a separate case.