Egypt's Prosecutor Demands Death Penalty for Mohamed Morsi

Continuing the trial of Egypt's first elected president, the country's Attorney General has called for the death penalty for Mohamed Morsi on charges of 'espionage for foreign countries,' including Iran. According to the Associated Press, Imad al-Sharawi, Egypt's prosecutor, stated on Wednesday, November 28, that Mr. Morsi, during his one year as president, along with several other leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood, transferred classified documents to foreign intelligence agencies, including Iran. Al-Sharawi also mentioned that Mohamed Morsi, former president of Egypt, Mohamed Badie, leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, and 34 other senior members of this Islamist party collaborated with foreign militant groups like Hamas to destabilize Egypt. Morsi, while rejecting the court's legitimacy, emphasized that he would defend himself in future sessions. The former president had also been accused in previous court sessions of providing top-secret documents to Qatar. The next court session will be held on Wednesday, December 5, to obtain the final defenses of the defendants. If the death penalty is issued for the former president of Egypt, he will be one of the hundreds of members of the Islamist party, the Muslim Brotherhood, who have been sentenced to death in recent trials in the country, although these sentences have not yet been carried out. Many of these punishments have also been changed to life imprisonment. The Muslim Brotherhood has been declared a terrorist group and its activities have been banned. This group won all elections in Egypt from 2011, following the overthrow of Hosni Mubarak, until the ousting of Mohamed Morsi, the president who emerged from it. Nevertheless, Mr. Morsi's one-year presidency faced widespread and bloody protests that ultimately led to his removal and arrest by the military and the then Minister of Defense, General Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. Following that, a new wave of protests occurred, this time from supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood, which resulted in many casualties. Abdel Fattah el-Sisi also rose to this position in the subsequent presidential elections in Egypt.