Egypt sentences ex-President Morsi to life on espionage charges

Egypt’s deposed President Mohammed Morsi has been sentenced to 40 years in prison on charges of leaking secret state documents to Qatar. 

Egypt’s deposed President Mohammed Morsi has been sentenced to 40 years in prison on charges of leaking secret state documents to Qatar. 

Two al-Jazeera journalists were sentenced to death in absentia at the same trial.

Former Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi was handed two further sentences in addition to earlier sentences against him. In a capital espionage case, the deposed Islamist leader was given life imprisonment (25 years) and an additional 15 years, making it unlikely that he will leave prison in his lifetime.

DW reported that, two other convicts  – identified by the trial judge Alaa Omar Mohammed, and Ibrahim Mohammed Hilal – were also sentenced to death in absentia, accused of leaking Egypt’s secret state documents to Qatar. Morsi was charged with the same crime.

The death sentences will be sent to the mufti – Egypt’s official interpreter of Islamic law – as Egyptian law requires his non-binding opinion on death sentences.