Cairo rejects Hezbollah court claims

CAIRO, May 6 (UPI) -- A court in Cairo rejected appeals by six men allegedly linked to a Hezbollah cell in the Sinai peninsula plotting attacks on Egyptian soil.

In a series of raids, Egyptian forces arrested scores of suspects who Cairo said are part of a Hezbollah cell targeting Israeli and Egyptian interests in the region.

Six suspects -- Mohammad Saad, Nassar Jibril, Mohammad Qutb, Nedhal Fathi, Mohammad Ramadhan and Hassan al-Manakhili -- had filed official complaints over their detention, Lebanon's The Daily Star reports.

Egypt operates under a decades-long state of emergency that imposes harsh restrictions on free speech, permits indefinite and arbitrary detentions, and prohibits the peaceful assembly of more than five people.

Cairo said it was reviewing additional judicial complaints in connection with the detentions.

Egyptian presidential spokesman Suleiman Awwad stressed the dispute was with Hezbollah, not Beirut, saying the investigation into Hezbollah activity would not harm diplomatic relations.

"There is no problem whatsoever between Egypt and the Lebanese state," he said.

Some critics complain the row between Egypt and Hezbollah is political posturing, as Cairo faces diplomatic competition from Ankara while Hezbollah is set to make significant gains in the June parliamentary elections in Lebanon.