This is really starting to get bizarre.

A Canadian has been convicted of spying for Israel in Egypt and my early morning search for details at Canadian online papers turns up zilch. I recognize it’s still early so maybe one of the national papers will decide the event is a little newsworthy and devote a few lines. Once again, I found the story at Ynet News:

An Egyptian court convicted an Egyptian-Canadian dual citizen on Saturday of spying for Israel and sentenced him to 15 years in prison, and three Israelis tried in absentia were also found guilty, witnesses said.

Egyptian prosecutors said Israel recruited Mohamed Essam Ghoneim el-Attar, 31, in 2001 when he was living in Turkey and that intelligence agents assisted him in obtaining a residency permit in Canada under a fake name and found him work in a bank.

Attar was arrested in January at the Cairo airport when he returned home for a family visit, and was accused of being paid to spy on Egyptians and Arabs in Turkey and Canada and using his position in the bank to obtain information on specific accounts. Attar was also expected to scout and approach potential recruits, according to prosecutors, who said he was paid $56,000 before he was arrested.

The three Israelis convicted in absentia in the case, said to be Mossad agents, were also handed 15-year jail terms. All four defendants were fined 10,000 Egyptian pounds ($1,760). Israel has dismissed the case as a fabrication.

It would be laughable if a man’s life wasn’t hanging in the balance. The Israeli government has the right of it. The allegations were complete fabrication by the Egyptian authorities and the trial makes a mockery of the very concept of a justice system. Fifteen years because the Egyptian government needs an infusion of fresh blood to satisfy their lust for blood libels.

What I want to see and know about is what the Canadian government is prepared to do to free this citizen? Boring people to death with little fireside chats is not a solution. It’s long past the time for the Canadian government to stand up to these barbarous regimes with some dire consequences for nefarious actions undertaken against Canadian citizens. And yes, I think the Egyptian government qualifies as barbarous regime which should have no place or standing in the international community in the 21st century. Of course, if the Canadian government does find its backbone; I will probably have to read about it in Ynet News.