Qatar slams Egypt over Morsi espionage case verdict

The Qatari Ministry of Foreign Affairs has strongly condemned the Cairo Criminal Court ruling on Saturday against Egypt’s ousted President Mohamed Morsi and several Muslim Brotherhood members in what is known as the Qatar espionage case.

Director of the Information Office at the Foreign Ministry Ahmed al-Rumaihi said the verdict is “unfounded, goes against truth and contains misleading claims”.

Al-Rumaihi said the charge of espionage involving Qatar is both “surprising and unacceptable”.

“It is not surprising for us to see such verdicts reached by Egyptian courts, especially that during the past two years more than 1,000 people received death sentences and life imprisonment to be later overturned by Egyptian Courts of Cassation,” Al-Rumaihi told the Qatar News Agency on Saturday.

Spokesman for the Egyptian Foreign Ministry Judge Ahmed Abu Zeid responded to Al-Rumaihi’s comment, saying: “The release of this statement is not surprising for us, especially from those who devoted resources and efforts over the past years to directing [Qatar’s] media for the sake of antagonising the Egyptian people and [Egypt’s] state institutions.”

On Saturday, Morsi was sentenced to 40 years in prison following his conviction in the Qatar espionage case.