Mursi to be tried over conspiracy

CAIRO: Egypt’s top prosecutor referred toppled President Muhammad Mursi to trial Wednesday for conspiring with the Palestinian group Hamas, Lebanon’s Hezbollah and others to carry out a campaign of violence in the Sinai Peninsula and beyond to destabilize the country following his ouster.
Prosecutors claim that while president, Mursi and his aides revealed state secrets to the militant groups and to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard. Mursi and 35 others, including the Muslim Brotherhood’s top three leaders, are also accused of sponsoring terrorism and carrying out combat training and other acts to undermine Egypt’s stability. The charges, which refer to incidents as far back as 2005, carry the death penalty.
Mohammed El-Damaty, a defense lawyer for Muslim Brotherhood members, said the lawyers have not attended any of their clients’ interrogations and have no idea about the details of the charges.
No trial date has been set in the new case. Mursi is already on trial on charges of inciting the murder of his opponents while in office. Mursi was removed from office in July by the military, following days of mass protests demanding he step down. Mursi spent months in an undisclosed location before he appeared in court to face the incitement charges in November. That trial resumes in January.
In a statement Wednesday, prosecutors said their new investigation showed that the Brotherhood’s international branch has carried out violent acts in Egypt to create chaos. Prosecutors claimed the Brotherhood prepared a terrorist plot that involved smuggling weapons into the country and smuggling their own members into the Gaza Strip to receive military training from Hezbollah and Iran’s Revolutionary Guard to carry out operations in the Sinai. Prosecutors said their investigation showed the Brotherhood received funds from foreign countries. Investigators claim the plan began as earlier as 2005 and put it into effect in 2011 during the turmoil that accompanied the uprising against former President Hosni Mubarak.