Mohammed Essam Ghoneim el-Attar (born 1970 in Cairo, Egypt) is a Canadian-Egyptian man accused and convicted of spying for Israel.
On 20 April 2007, el-Attar was found guilty of spying for Israel in an Egyptian courtroom, and sentenced to fifteen years in prison, with no right of appeal.
[2] The transcript says that el-Attar cited his conversion to Christianity and the fact that he is gay, in applying to the United Nations for refugee status from Egypt.
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.