Egyptian Court Sentences Death To Two Al-Jazeera Employees

Egyptian court sentenced two employees of media house Al-Jazeera along with four others on Saturday to death convicted for passing documents to Qatar and Doha-based TV network during the rule of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi.

The documents are said to be related to national security. Seven of the defendants out of eleven are in custody.

Mohammed Morsi is the top defendant and is sentenced to 25 years in prison for his membership in the Muslim Brotherhood group, which is currently banned by the Egyptian law.

His secretary Amin el-Sirafy has been sentenced to 15 years for leading the documents and for the same charges Sirafy’s daughter Karima too has been sentenced to 15 years in prison.

Mohammed Morsi was ousted by military in July 2013. He was the first freely elected leader in the country. In one another case he has been sentenced to death.

Morsi has been sentenced to life and 20 years in prison in two other cases which are under appeal.

After the ouster of Morsi in 2013 the Muslim Brotherhood was banned and declared as a terrorist organization.

Producer at a Brotherhood-linked TV channel, Khalid Radwan, was sentenced to 15 years of prison.

The two Al-Jazeera employees are identified as news producer Alaa Omar Mohammed and news editor Ibrahim Mohammed Hilal.