Israel frees Egyptian prisoners under swap deal

October 28th, 2011 - 9:49 am ICT by IANS  

Tel Aviv, Oct 28 (IANS/RIA Novosti) Israeli authorities released 25 Egyptian prisoners to swap them for a US-Israeli national held in Egypt four weeks ago on suspicion of spying, an official said.

The deal was agreed with Cairo earlier this week and approved by the Israeli security cabinet. The prisoners were released Thursday.

Most Egyptian prisoners were sent to jail for trafficking of weapons and drugs. Two of them were serving murder sentences. They would be swapped for 27-year-old Ilan Grapel, who was detained in Egypt in June, was already taken to a border crossing with Israel.

Grapel, who has dual US-Israeli citizenship, was detained in Cairo on charges of espionage and subversive actions.

–IANS/RIA Novosti
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