Alwaght- Egypt's ousted President Mohamed Morsi was today sentenced to life imprisonment by a court for passing state secrets to Qatar.
Morsi, the case's top defendant, and two of his aides were sentenced to 25 years in prison for espionage - in Egypt, a life sentence is equivalent to at least 25 years. Morsi is already facing the death penalty on other charges.
Morsi and his secretary, Amin el-Sirafy, each received an additional 15-year sentence for a lesser crime. El-Sirafy's daughter, Karima, was also sentenced to 15 years in prison.
Helal was accused of passing state secrets to Qatar in what human rights groups have dismissed as a politicized case and a sham trial.
Helal said he was "angered" by the verdict and that the entire judicial process was "fabricated."
"What really annoyed me today was the intensive talk and the self-assurances given by the judge and how he was sure these people betrayed the nation. For me, the real betrayal of this nation is wasting its time and money in these silly things and fabricated cases”.
"I feel they have nothing so they are continuing to self-assure that we really proved it. If you read the evidences, the only two kinds of evidences they have are the secret investigations of the police which was disclosed and the second is the confessions of others who gave statements under interrogation and torture," he added.
"This is a political case ... They want to threaten all journalists inside and outside of Egypt."
The court also upheld death sentences given to six Muslim Brotherhood members in the same case and awarded life imprisonment (25 years in prison) to two others.
After that initial verdict, the Cairo court had to seek the advice of Egypt's Grand Mufti Shawqi Allam, the highest religious leader in the country, to be able to finalize the verdicts.
Egyptian law requires the mufti to sign off on death sentences. His opinion is not binding but usually respected by courts.
Muslim Brotherhood-backed Morsi was overthrown by the military in July 2013 after mass protests a year after he took office.
Senior leaders in the Muslim Brotherhood and their followers have been sentenced to death in different cases since military leader Abdel Fattah el-Sisi overthrew Morsi's government.
The Muslim Brotherhood, which has since been banned, has dismissed the sentences and other harsh verdicts as politically motivated.
