Egypt’s Morsi sentenced to life in espionage trial

AFP, CAIRO: An Egyptian court on Saturday sentenced ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi to life in prison in an espionage trial in which six of his co-defendants were handed death penalties.
Morsi, who has been sentenced to death in a separate trial, was Egypt’s first democratically elected president but the army overthrew him in 2013 and cracked down on his supporters.
He was given life in prison Saturday for leading an unlawful organisation and 15 years for having “stolen secret documents concerning state security,” his lawyer said.
But Morsi was acquitted of having supplied classified documents to Qatar, one of his main backers, Abdel Moneim Abdel Maksoud
told AFP.
The six defendants sentenced to death for helping to pass secret documents to Qatar include three journalists, two from Qatar-based TV channel Al-Jazeera, tried in absentia.
The media network denounced the verdict as an attack of free press.  Al-Jazeera “denounces, condemns, and entirely rejects the verdict,” a statement said.

Egypts Morsi sentenced to life in espionage trial

AFP, CAIRO: An Egyptian court on Saturday sentenced ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi to life in prison in an espionage trial in which six of his co-defendants were handed death penalties. Morsi, who has been sentenced to death in a separate trial, was Egypts first democratically elected president but the army overthrew him in 2013 and cracked down on his supporters. He was given life in prison Saturday for leading an unlawful organisation and 15 years for having stolen secret documents concerning state security, his lawyer said. But Morsi was acquitted of having supplied classified documents to Qatar, one of his main backers, Abdel Moneim Abdel Maksoud told AFP. The six defendants sentenced to death for helping to pass secret documents to Qatar include three journalists, two from Qatar-based TV channel Al-Jazeera, tried in absentia. The media network denounced the verdict as an attack of free press. Al-Jazeera denounces, condemns, and entirely rejects the verdict, a statement said.