News / Egypt

Egypt’s Morsi sentenced to life in prison in espionage trial

Saturday, 18 June 2016 1:44 PM [ Last Update: Saturday, 18 June 2016 3:46 PM ]

Egypt’s ousted president Mohamed Morsi is seen during his trial at the police academy on the outskirts of the capital, Cairo, on May 7, 2016. © AFP

An Egyptian court has sentenced ousted president Mohamed Morsi, along with two other defendants, to life in prison on the charge of spying for Qatar.

On Saturday, the Cairo Criminal Court also sentenced Morsi to another 15 years in prison for a different charge in the same case.

Additionally, the court upheld the May 7 death penalty for six other co-defendants accused alongside Morsi.

All of the defendants can appeal the verdicts to the Egyptian Court of Cassation, the country's highest civil court.

Prosecutors accuse Morsi and 10 co-defendants of leaking “classified documents” to Qatar.

The documents allegedly contained secrets on “national security,” and were purportedly traded with Qatari intelligence for a million dollars.

Morsi has already been sentenced in three separate trials to death, a life term and 20 years in prison.

In May 2015, Morsi and 105 others were sentenced to death for a mass prison break in 2011 during the country’s popular uprising that led to the overthrow of long-time dictator Hosni Mubarak.

Morsi has already appealed the 20-year prison term handed down to him in April last year on charges of involvement in the arrests and torture of protesters during his one-year rule, which came to an end by a military coup led by the former army chief and current President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi in July 2013.

Since the 2013 ouster of Morsi, the military-backed government in Cairo has launched a heavy-handed crackdown on his supporters and the country’s disbanded opposition group Muslim Brotherhood.

The clampdown has led to the deaths of more than 1,400 people and the arrests of 22,000 others.

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