Former Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi
was on Saturday handed a life sentence by
a Cairo criminal court on charges of
espionage.
The sentencing of Morsi came during the
final ruling in the trial of 11 people,
including two Al Jazeera journalists
accused of leaking state secrets to Qatar,
ABC News writes.
The court also confirmed a ruling from
May 7, when six of the defendants were
sentenced to death.
Those sentenced to death include Ibrahim
Helal, former director of news at Al
Jazeera’s Arabic channel. He is not in Egypt
and was tried in absentia.
The others sentenced to death – political
activist Ahmed Afifi, flight attendant
Mohamed Kilani, and academic Ahmed
Ismail – were in state custody.
After that initial verdict, the court had to
seek the advice of the highest religious
leader in the country, the Grand Mufti
Shawqi Allam, to be able to finalise the
verdicts, although those verdicts can be
appealed in Egypt’s Court of Cassation.
Proscribed Muslim Brotherhood (MB)-
backed Morsi was overthrown by the
military – led by Abdel Fattah el-Sisi – in
July 2013 after mass protests a year after
he took office.
Senior leaders in the MB and their
followers have been sentenced to death in
different cases since the overthrow of
Morsi’s government.
The Muslim Brotherhood, which has since
been banned, has dismissed the sentences
and other harsh verdicts as politically
motivated, despite claims by the
government that the courts operate
independently.
Comments
Post a Comment