Egypt clears deceased ex-spy

By · July 3, 2007

Hosni Mubarak denied that a retired Egyptian intelligence officer who fell to his death in Britain had spied for Israel.The Egyptian president came out Monday against claims by former Israeli intelligence chiefs that the late Ashraf Marwan had warned Jerusalem ahead of the 1973 Yom Kippur War."I have no doubts whatsoever about the patriotism of Dr. Ashraf Marwan, and I knew the details of what he was doing to serve his nation,” Mubarak told reporters. “He carried out patriotic acts which it is not time yet to reveal, but he was indeed a patriotic Egyptian and was not a spy for any organisation at all."Marwan, who had served in Egyptian intelligence and was married to a daughter of Mubarak’s predecessor, Gamal Abdel Nasser, suffered fatal injuries after falling from the balcony of his luxury London home last week. Though British authorities treated the incident as an accident, there was speculation that Marwan may have committed suicide or been assassinated.Former heads of Israel’s military intelligence and its civilian counterpart, Mossad, said that Marwan tipped them off about Egypt’s surprise offensive in October 1973. The warning was ignored as one of the spymasters suspected Marwan of being a double agent planted to sow disinformation.