Mohamed Morsi charged over leaked state secrets

EGYPT charged overthrown Islamist president Mohamed Morsi and nine others yesterday with endangering national security by leaking state secrets and sensitive documents to Qatar and Al Jazeera, furthering a state crackdown on his outlawed Muslim Brotherhood.

Egyptian ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi. Picture: Getty

Relations between Qatar and Egypt have been icy since July 2013, when Egypt’s then-army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi toppled Morsi after protests against his rule.

Qatar had supported Morsi, who is in jail along with thousands of Brotherhood members, many of whom have been sentenced to death on separate charges.

The Egyptian public prosecutor’s office said yesterday its investigation had unearthed enough evidence of espionage to charge Morsi and nine others. The maximum penalty if convicted is death.

It said the documents exposed the location of weapons held by the Egyptian armed forces and detailed the country’s foreign and domestic policies. Al Jazeera, which has been banned from Egypt, has denied any bias in reporting events there.