An Egyptian court on Saturday sentenced six people, including two Al Jazeera journalists, to death for allegedly passing state security information to Qatar during the rule of ex-president Mohamed Morsi, the Associated Press reported.
The two Al Jazeera journalists - identified as news producer Alaa Omar Mohammed and news editor Ibrahim Mohammed Hilal - were sentenced to deaht in absentia, along with another journalist Asmaa al-Khateeb, who worked for the Rasd network, widely suspected of having links to the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood.
Mohamed Morsi, the top defendant in the trial, along with two of his aides, were sentenced to 25 years in prison for belonging to the Muslim Brotherhood, but were acquitted of espionage charges, a capital offense. Morsi and his secretary Amin el-Sirafy were sentenced to an additional 15 years for leaking official documents. El-Sirafy's daughter was also given 15 years on the same charge.
The three other defendants sentenced to death were identified as documentary producer Ahmed Afify, EgyptAir cabin crew member Mohammed Keilany and academic Ahmed Ismail.
All of the verdicts handed down Saturday can be appealed. Amnesty International has called for the death sentences to be thrown out and the “ludicrous charges against the journalists to be dropped.”
Last month Egyptian courts "recommended" death sentences for the six people sentenced on Saturday, pending approval by the grand mufti. Egyptian law requires the mufti to sign off on death sentences. His opinion is not binding but is usually respected by courts.
Egypt ranked 158 out of 180 countries in the 2015 Press Freedom Index, put together by Reporters Without Borders. The Committee to Protect Journalists said in December that Egypt was second only to China as the world's leading jailer of journalists in 2015.
