CAIRO: An Egyptian court on Saturday sought the death penalty for three journalists and three others charged with endangering national security by leaking state secrets and documents to Qatar.
The final ruling is expected on June 18, after the sentence has been referred to the top religious authority, the grand mufti, for a non-binding opinion.
The verdict against former President Muhammad Mursi, who is charged in the same case, was postponed to the same day.
The two Al-Jazeera employees — identified by the judge as news producer Alaa Omar Mohammed and news editor Ibrahim Mohammed Hilal — were sentenced in absentia along with Asmaa Al-Khateib, who worked for Rasd, a media network widely suspected of links to Muslim Brotherhood.
“Al Jazeera media network rejects the absurd allegations that they (Mohammed and Hilal) were in collaboration with the elected government of Mohammed Mursi,” a spokesman for Al-Jazeera said.
The final ruling is expected on June 18, after the sentence has been referred to the top religious authority, the grand mufti, for a non-binding opinion.
The verdict against former President Muhammad Mursi, who is charged in the same case, was postponed to the same day.
The two Al-Jazeera employees — identified by the judge as news producer Alaa Omar Mohammed and news editor Ibrahim Mohammed Hilal — were sentenced in absentia along with Asmaa Al-Khateib, who worked for Rasd, a media network widely suspected of links to Muslim Brotherhood.
“Al Jazeera media network rejects the absurd allegations that they (Mohammed and Hilal) were in collaboration with the elected government of Mohammed Mursi,” a spokesman for Al-Jazeera said.
