Saudi Arabia accuses Egyptian of Espionage · Global Voices
Marwa Rakha

27 year old IT programmer Youssef Al Ashmawy is currently detained in a prison Riyadh and is accused of spying on the Kingdom.
Zeinobia wrote:
Saudi Arabia is detaining Egyptian Internet activist Youssef Al Ashamawy. Youssef is being accused of spying on the kingdom for the Egyptian intelligence!!  Youssef is detained or in fact is in jail since last August 2008 !!?? He was forced to sign confession with the above-mentioned accusation. He worked for an IT company that installed some systems for the Saudi Intelligence.
She wonders
Why would Egypt spy on Saudi Arabia ?? Are not we best buddies ?? Are not we the good Sunni axis that stands against the Shiite axis of Evil !!?? I do not know if Mubarak will interfere this time but I do not have high hope. Youssef has been detained since last August and Mubarak did nothing for the two doctors (who were sentenced to 1500 backlash each and prison time); in fact he visited the Kingdom and returned back without referring to them. Of course the Egyptian intelligence won’t comment or issue any press statement that denies or confirms the allegations of Saudi Arabia. They have not already issued a statement concerning Ashraf Marwan up till this moment for the record. Till now the human rights organizations in Egypt are following the matter.
From the political view I think this is an official step back in our relations with Saudi Arabia. Why now did the Kingdom announce the charge of Youssef after 4 months of his arrest ?? You do not accuse a citizen of another country of spying and expect that your relations with it will be fine. This is not the Yemeni case I am afraid for it involves one of our citizens whom I do not know what he is going to face from punishment this time.
Of course our official newspapers ignored the whole incident. They have not received the permission.
An Egyptian commented on the same incident in Arabic and in English saying: