Egypt Releases Israeli Convicted of Spying

Egypt has released an Israeli who spent 15 years in prison for spying, while Israel has freed two Egyptians, officials said Thursday amid improved ties between the two states.

All three were said to have served their full terms and it was unclear whether their imprisonment could have been further extended or if their releases resulted from negotiations.

The Israeli later met Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in his Jerusalem office, a government statement said.

"Netanyahu, today... met with Ouda Tarabin following the latter's return to Israel, and told him, 'Welcome home. We had long talks with the Egyptians for years and we are happy to see you with us now. I said that we would bring you back here and it has happened,'" the statement said.

Tarabin, an Israeli Bedouin, had regularly traveled to Egypt to visit his two sisters in the port city of El-Arish.

But during a trip in 2000 he was arrested and informed that he had been tried in absentia on charges of spying for Israel.

Tarabin, who was 19 when he was arrested, has always insisted he was innocent.

Israel had long called for his release, and on several occasions that was raised in the context of a possible prisoner swap.

In 1979, Egypt became the first Arab country to sign a peace treaty with Israel, but ties have remained formally cold over Israel's policies towards the Palestinians.

Relations soured after the June 2012 election of the Muslim Brotherhood's Mohamed Morsi as Egyptian president.

Morsi was ousted in July 2013 by then army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who was elected president in 2014.

In September, Israel opened a new embassy in Cairo, four years after protesters in the Egyptian capital stormed its mission following the ouster of longtime leader Hosni Mubarak.