Egypt’s public prosecution appealed on Tuesday against a court decision clearing former president Mohamed Mursi of the espionage charge, in a case dubbed as espionage with Qatar, before the Court of Cassation.
Mursi, who was militarily ousted in July 2013, and 10 others, were accused of leaking important national security documents and information on the Egyptian Armed Forces to Qatar during Mursi's tenure.
Last June, the former president was cleared of the espionage charge but received a life sentence (25 years) for leading a "terrorist group" and 15 years for leaking classified documents.
The court then sentenced six others to death including a documentary filmmaker Ahmed Afifi, a flight attendant Mohamed Kilany and a teaching assistant in the Misr University for Sciences and Technology Ahmed Ismail.
Asmaa al-Khatb, reporter for RASSD news network, along with Alaa Sablan and Ibrahim Helal, who both work for Qatari Al Jazeera channel, also received death sentences.
The remaining four defendants received sentences ranging from 15-25 years.
On Monday, Mursi’s defence team appealed against the 40-year prison sentence.
The lawyers requested a re-trial for all the defendants in the case, saying that the “court violated the rights of the defence team” and that there were “errors” in the application of the law.
