A state security court on Thursday sentenced an Egyptian businessman to 25 years in prison for spying for Israel.

A state security court on Thursday sentenced an Egyptian businessman to 25 years in prison for spying for Israel, court officials said.

Judicial sources revealed that Tarek Hassan and two Israeli officers, sentenced in absentia, were found guilty of "acts of espionage" on Israel's behalf.

The two Israelis who worked for Tel Aviv's intelligence agency Mossad also received a 25-year sentence.

Razek, who runs an import-export company, is said to have provided the two men with information on Egyptians, Syrians and Lebanese working in telecommunications and recruited likely agents for Mossad. He was arrested last year.

Hassan was arrested in August and charged four months later, along with the two Israelis, for attempting to identify telecommunications workers in Egypt, Syria and Lebanon who would be willing to spy for Israel. He was also alleged to have passed intelligence gathered by an Israeli agent in Syria to the Israelis.

The prosecutors said he provided intelligence to Israel in exchange for cash.

Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said he 'preferred not to make comments as long as American-Israeli backpacker Ilan Grapel is still under detention in Cairo.'

Relations between Israel and Egypt have been tense since a popular revolution swept former ousted president Hosni Mubarak from power in February.