Former Egyptian President Morsi charged with espionage
The former democratically-elected president of Egypt Mohamed Morsi, who was deposed in a military coup and subsequently arrested, has been charged with sharing state secrets with the government of Qatar.
Agence France-Presse reports that Morsi provided Qatari intelligence officers with sensitive security documents in exchange for cash. Morsi reportedly received $1 million in exchange for the documents.
AFP notes Morsi already faces the death penalty in other cases. He stands accused of supporting terrorism and terrorist groups because he is a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamist political party.
Ten other people will be on trial with Morsi regarding this Qatari matter. They are predominantly figures of his government, according to AFP.
Confusingly, a statement released by the Egyptian government said Morsi gave the documents to both intelligence officials and "heads of al Jazeera," according to AFP.
Egypt has shutdown Al Jazeera's operations in the country and imprisoned al Jazeera journalists. It is possible that the allegations against al Jazeera have been made to lend weight to their claims against the journalists, which were condemned by the international community.
Morsi and the Brotherhood were overthrown by a military coup in July 2013. The ensuing security crackdown has seen thousands imprisoned on flimsy charges. The government also used violent force to end numerous demonstrations and sit-ins that began in protests of the military's overthrow of a democratically-elected government. Thousands of people have been killed in the unrest.
Human Rights Watch has alleged that the actions of the Egyptian military after seizing power constituted crimes against humanity.
In addition to violent responses to protests, the government has sentenced hundreds of people to death at a time in some cases. They have even sentenced people to death even if their presence in a different city from the location of the alleged crimes could be independently verified by numerous witnesses
