Morsi absent from hearing in 'spy' case

Deposed Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi and his Chief of Staff Mohamed Rifaat Al-Tahtawi were absent from the 16th hearing of their trial in the case of their “collaboration” with Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran’s Revolutionary Guards for security reasons, a judicial source said today.

At the beginning of the hearing, Judge Shaaban Al-Shami said that he received a letter from the Ministry of Interior stating that Morsi and Al-Tahtawi would not be attending due to security reasons, according to the source.

Morsi, along with 35 others have been accused of “collaborating with foreign organisations and parties outside the country, revealing national security secrets, and coordinating with Jihadist organisations inside and outside of Egypt with the intention of preparing for terrorist acts inside Egypt.”

On December 18, 2013, the Egyptian Prosecutor General, Hisham Barakat, referred the two defendants to trial on charges of “collaboration” with the Palestinian movement Hamas, the Lebanese movement Hezbollah, and Iran’s Revolutionary Guards to carry out “acts of sabotage and terrorism” inside the country.

In a similar case, Morsi, along with nine others, is accused of “leaking national security secrets to Qatar and collaborating with it”.