A Cairo court has convicted 76 Egyptians on charges linked to last year's attack by protesters on the Israeli Embassy in Cairo. Seventy-five of the defendants received suspended one-year sentences Sunday, while one defendant tried in absentia was given a five-year prison term. The court listed eight charges, including "an assault against diplomatic missions" and "sabotage." In September, thousands of protesters tore down a security wall around a high rise building housing the embassy and then trashed its offices. After narrowly escaping the mob attack, Ambassador Yitzhak Levanon reconstructed the moments of terror for Israel Hayom. "I have to admit, I was afraid," he said three days after the incident. "Six of my staff were there and I knew that the rioters would go all the way." "There were moments of enormous tension and fear. I remember the shouts over the intercom: 'They've broken in!' It was clear to me that they wanted to go all the way," added Levanon. The attack prompted nearly the entire embassy staff to evacuate in one of the worst diplomatic crises to hit the two countries' relations since they signed a peace treaty in 1979.
