Egypt frees Iran diplomat detained for spying

Egyptian authorities have released an Iranian diplomat detained on suspicion of spying on the North African country for Teheran’s intelligence services, Egyptian state media reported yesterday.

The official Mena news agency reported the state security prosecution released the man after it was “notified by the (Egyptian) foreign ministry that he was a diplomat in the Iranian mission” in Cairo.

A security official confirmed the man’s release, but there was no immediate explanation why he was arrested in the first place despite clearly being identified as a diplomat when detained.

Mena had earlier reported that “the state security prosecution today began an inquiry into Iranian diplomat Qasim al-Hosseini, who works at the Iranian interests section in Cairo”.

Mr Hosseini, who was arrested several days ago, had been accused of “spying for a foreign state (Iran) in order to harm Egypt’s interests,” said Mena.

An initial probe found the diplomat gathered “information about Egypt on the latest developments the country has experienced and the conditions through which it is passing, then sent them to Iran’s intelligence services”, Mena added.The Iranian interests section in Cairo denied the report. “He is in the embassy as I speak. It did not happen that way, he was not arrested,” an official in the section said on condition of anonymity.Earlier in Teheran, the Arabic-language television channel Al-Alam quoted a source as saying that Mr Hosseini “is currently in his office and working normally” in Cairo.“We are following the case,” he added without elaborating.