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Morsi accused of leaking Egypt security secrets to Iran,
Morsi accused of leaking Egypt security secrets to Iran
Published yesterday (updated) 23/02/2014 23:35
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=676098
CAIRO (AFP) — Prosecutors Sunday accused deposed president Mohamed Morsi of
leaking state secrets to Iran’s Revolutionary Guards as part of a plot to
destabilize Egypt, at the second hearing of his trial for espionage.
The trial, one of three that are under way against Morsi, is part of a
relentless government crackdown targeting him and his Muslim Brotherhood
movement since his ouster by the army in July.
Prosecutors accuse Morsi and 35 others, including leaders of the Muslim
Brotherhood, of conspiring with foreign powers, Palestinian militant
movement Hamas and Shiite Iran to destabilise Egypt.
On Sunday, the second hearing since the trial opened on Feb. 16, they
detailed the charges against Morsi and his co-defendants.
They were specifically accused of “delivering to a foreign country …
national defense secrets and providing the Iranian Revolutionary Guards with
security reports in order to destabilise the security and stability of the
country”.
The statement read in court did not identify the “foreign country”.
But prosecutors said Morsi and the defendants carried out espionage
activities on behalf of the “international Muslim Brotherhood organization
and Hamas with an aim to perpetrate terror attacks in the country in order
to spread chaos and topple the state” from 2005 to August 2013.
During Morsi’s one year presidency, ties flourished between Cairo and Hamas,
a Palestinian affiliate of the Muslim Brotherhood which rules neighbouring
Gaza.
But since July, Egypt’s military-installed government has accused Hamas of
backing Morsi and his Brotherhood, and carrying out terrorist attacks inside
the country.
At Sunday’s hearing Morsi was held separately in a soundproof glass cage,
designed to keep him and the other defendants from interrupting the
proceedings with outbursts.
But this did not stop defendants including Brotherhood supreme guide Mohamed
Badie, his deputy Khairat al-Shater and other Islamist leaders from shouting
and rejecting the accusations against them.
“Void, void,” they shouted when the judge asked them if they accepted the
charges, an AFP correspondent said.
If found guilty, the defendants could face the death penalty.
Most of the defendants were also accused of moving armed groups in and out
of Egypt in January 2011, in a bid to attack army and police installations
and prisons to facilitate the escape of inmates.
Also on Sunday the defendants were represented by a new team of 10 defence
lawyers appointed by the lawyers’ union, to replace the original team that
withdrew from the case.
The trial was adjourned to Feb. 27.
Morsi is already on trial for the killing of protesters during his
presidency and a jailbreak during the 2011 uprising that ousted his
predecessor Hosni Mubarak.
Egypt’s first democratically-elected president, also faces trial for
“insulting the judiciary”. A date for that has yet to be set.
________________________________________
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Source: http://www.imra.org.il/story.php3?id=63278
