Arab, Lebanese Mediation Efforts with Egypt to Prevent Indictment of Nasrallah
Arab and Lebanese officials are holding calm and intensive talks with Egypt to prevent the inclusion of Hizbullah”s chief when the public prosecution refers the case of an alleged Hizbullah cell to court, the suspects” lawyers said.
Last month, Cairo announced it had arrested a Hizbullah cell on charges of plotting attacks in the country.
"Clearly there is an atmosphere of calm. This is obvious by the appeasing tone being adopted by national newspapers toward Hizbullah," lawyer Khaled Ali told the pan-Arab daily al-Sharq al-Awsat in comments published Sunday.
"The whole issue will unfold once (the High State Security prosecution) announces its decision to refer the accused (to court)," in the next few days he added.
He said it was still unclear whether the prosecution will include Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah among the accused or whether the list will be limited to those arrested so far in Egypt.
Nasrallah has admitted that one of the defendants Defendant Mohammed Youssef Mansour, also known as Sami Shihab, was a Hizbullah operative. He said Mansour was in charge of providing assistance to Palestinians in Gaza and denied claims Hizbullah was planning to destabilize Egypt.
Separately, an official in Egypt”s foreign ministry denied reports of mediation efforts over the case, the paper said.
Ali confirmed reports that another suspect, Mossaid al-Sharif, was arrested but it was not clear if the arrest was carried out inside Egypt.
He added that the authorities "might have arrested more suspects who had fled the country."