New Espionage Charges for Morsi’s Team: Interior Minister

The secretary of ousted Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi has been accused of stealing documents and reports related to national security and attempting to smuggle them out of the country, Interior Minister Mohamed Ibrahim said on Sunday.

Investigations by the National Security apparatus allege that Amin Abdel-Hamid El-Sarfy, secretary to the Islamist president, had tried to traffic the information through a cell operated by the Muslim Brotherhood, said Ibrahim.

El-Sarfy was arrested on 17 December but had left directions with his daughter as well as a Palestinian accomplice, ordering them to give the documents to Ibrahim Mohamed Helal, director of the news section in Al-Jazeera channel, located in what the interior minister on Sunday referred to as an “Arab country,” in reference to Qatar.

Helal met with a Qatari official to showcase the stolen information, Ibrahim said.

Also in the press briefing on Sunday, the interior minister accused members of the Islamic militant group Ansar Al-Sharia of executing 14 terrorist attacks in Egypt, targeting 12 police officers and seven army soldiers.

Attacks on army and police personnel have spiked in Egypt following Morsi’s ouster on 3 July.

Morsi and 35 other Brotherhood leaders are also standing trial in another espionage case in which they are accused of colluding with the Palestinian group Hamas in Gaza to commit terrorism in Egypt and harm the country’s national security, among other charges.

Source: Ahram Online