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Former Egyptian president Morsi receives life sentence in Qatar spy case

By Daniel Uria
Egypt's former President Mohamed Morsi sits in the defendant's cage during his trial in Cairo, Egypt, on April 21, 2015.
 Morsi and two other defendants were sentenced to life in prison in a separate trial for leaking national security information and documents to Qatar during his presidency.
 Photo by Karem Ahmed/UPI
Egypt's former President Mohamed Morsi sits in the defendant's cage during his trial in Cairo, Egypt, on April 21, 2015. Morsi and two other defendants were sentenced to life in prison in a separate trial for leaking national security information and documents to Qatar during his presidency. Photo by Karem Ahmed/UPI | License Photo

CAIRO, June 18 (UPI) -- Egypt's former president and two other defendants was sentenced to life in prison on Saturday by a Cairo criminal court.

Mohamed Morsi and the two other defendants were charged with leaking national security information and documents to Qatar during his presidency.

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Morsi was also handed an additional 15 year sentence by the presiding judge, Mohamed Shereen Fahmy, for a different charge in the same espionage case.

Six additional defendants, which according to Bloomberg included two Al-Jazeera staff members, were sentenced to the death penalty.

Fahmy said the defendants actions "surpassed espionage" because a spy would not have been able to accomplish the same feats.

The government's top religious official, the Grand Mufti, ratified the life sentences against the journalists who were identified as Alaa Omar Mohamed and Ibrahim Mohamed Helalstating that the "crime of the defendants are similar to that of treason."

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