Egypt charges telecom workers over Israel calls

Egyptian prosecutors sent four telecom company employees to court on Thursday after charging them with passing phone calls that served the interests of Israel, an official at the prosecutor's office said. "The state security prosecutor referred four employees of Mobinil telecom company to the state security court on the charge of passing calls to the benefit of the state of Israel," he said. The official did not give further details or explain the exact nature of the charges but said a statement would be released later on Thursday. Egypt in 1979 became the first Arab country to forge a peace treaty with its neighbour Israel, but relations remain cool. Over the years, Egypt has arrested a number of people accused of spying for the Jewish state. Mobinil is a mobile phone venture of Orascom Telecom and France Telecom.