Career
On 20 April, 2007, el-Attar was found guilty of spying for Israel in an Egyptian courtroom. He was accused of being paid to spy on Egyptians and Arabs in Turkey and Canada. He allegedly recruited several new agents in Canada, targeting gays and those he knew were in financial trouble within Arab communities.
He used his position at the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce to identify potential recruits.
The United Nations refugee agency confirmed they relocated him to Canada. According to his lawyer, el-Attar was directed to focus his efforts on Arabs whose native states bordered Israel — Syrians, Jordanians, Lebanese, Egyptians and Palestinians.
The lawyer further said el-Attar flew to Cairo on 1 January, 2007 at the behest of his handlers who had asked him to make amends with his family. From there, he was supposed to travel to Israel.
When arrested, el-Attar was in shock about the amount of information the Egyptian authorities had compiled and felt it was best to confess.
Later, el-Attar claimed he confessed only after days of torture. He said he was forced to drink his own urine, was given electric shocks, and that his family in Egypt was threatened.
