Hezbollah cell to face court in Egypt

CAIRO, Aug. 3 (UPI) -- Cairo said members of an alleged Hezbollah cell will stand trial Aug. 23 for their role in a plot to attack national interests from the Sinai peninsula.

In April, officials in Cairo said they had uncovered a Hezbollah cell operating in the Sinai peninsula that was planning simultaneous attacks on Egyptian soil as well as supporting militants with Hamas.

Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah had said one of the Sinai suspects -- Mohammad Yousef Mansour, or Sami Shihab -- was serving as a Hezbollah intermediary for the Palestinian Hamas, but he maintained Hezbollah's militancy was directed solely at Israel from southern Lebanon.

An Egyptian emergency court will try 26 Arabs for their role in the alleged Hezbollah plot, including four fugitives, Emirati daily newspaper Gulf News reports.

Egyptian authorities believe one of the fugitives is Mohammad Qablan, who Cairo believes is a Hezbollah intelligence official who was in the country on a recruitment mission.

The defendants could face the death sentence or life imprisonment if prosecuted under Article 86 of the Egyptian legal code, which covers the perpetrators of crimes as well as their accomplices.