Egypt court refers cases of 6 accused of spying to mufti

A court on Saturday referred the cases of six people accused of spying for Qatar – including two Al-Jazeera journalists – to the grand mufti, Egypt’s highest religious authority, to explore the possibility of handing down death sentences against them, according to a judicial source.

On June 18, the court will deliver its verdict in the case, in which five other Egyptians – including Mohammed Morsi, Egypt’s first democratically elected president – stand accused of leaking classified information to Qatar.

“If they are found guilty, we plan to appeal the verdicts,” Abdel Moneim Abdel Maqsoud, head of Morsi’s defense team, told Anadolu Agency.

Egypt’s army-backed authorities accuse Morsi – along with 10 co-defendants – of spying for the small Gulf state during his single year as president.

Morsi was ousted in a 2013 military coup spearheaded by Egypt’s then army chief – and current president – Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi.

The 2013 coup was followed by a harsh crackdown on Morsi’s supporters and members of his now-outlawed Muslim Brotherhood group.

Morsi has since been slapped with multiple life-in-prison and death sentences for “conspiring against Egypt” and breaking out of jail during a 2011 popular uprising that ended the 30-year rule of autocratic President Hosni Mubarak.

Morsi, along with many independent observers, says the charges against him and his co-defendants are politically motivated.