CAIRO (Web Desk) – An Egyptian Criminal Court sentenced former president Mohamed Morsi to life in prison on Saturday.
According to international media, the court penalized Morsi along with two other defendants, in the “Qatar espionage” case.
Six defendants received death sentences after the Grand Mufti argued that the “crime of the defendants are similar to that of treason.” He suggested that punishment should be death.
Two journalists for the broadcaster al-Jazeera were also sentenced to death in absentia.
Egyptian officials have accused the channel of serving as the mouthpiece for the Muslim Brotherhood and for Morsi.
The presiding judge, Mohamed Shereen Fahmy, also sentenced Morsi to another 15 years for a different charge in the same case.
Morsi and the other defendants are accused of leaking national security documents and information related to national security to Qatar during the former’s presidency.
Morsi was deposed in 2013. He has already been given a life sentence and condemned to death in earlier, separate court cases.
