Egypt’s former president Mohamed Morsi was handed another life sentence
on June 18, after a court found him guilty of espionage and leaking
state secrets.
Morsi, leader of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood,
has already been sentenced in three other cases, including the death
penalty for a mass jail break during the 2011 uprising against former
president Hosni Mubarak and a life sentence for spying on behalf of
Palestinian group Hamas.
The court on June 18 also said the death
penalty had been approved for six others accused alongside Morsi,
including three journalists sentenced in absentia. Two other defendants
that had worked in Morsi’s office were sentenced to life in prison.
The
sentences are the latest in a crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood since
an army takeover stripped Morsi of power in 2013 following mass
protests against his rule.
Prosecutors argued Morsi and his aides
were involved in leaking sensitive documents to Qatari intelligence
that exposed the location of weapons held by the Egyptian armed forces.
All of the defendants can appeal the verdicts to the Egyptian Court of Cassation, the country’s highest civil court.
Relations
between Qatar, a Gulf Arab state, and Egypt have been icy since July
2013 when Egypt’s then-army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi overthrew Morsi.
Qatar
had supported Mursi, who is in jail along with thousands of Brotherhood
members, many of whom have been sentenced to death on separate charges.
Sisi
says the Brotherhood poses a serious threat to security despite the
crackdown, which has weakened what was once Egypt’s most organized
political group.
