Qatar’s Foreign Ministry has strongly condemned mention of Qatar’s name in the verdict issued yesterday by Cairo Criminal Court in the case known as ‘Qatar espionage’ and the unjust sentences against President Mohamed Morsi and others.
Director of The Information Office at the Ministry, Ambassador Ahmed Al Rumaihi said: “It is not surprising for us to see such verdicts reached by Egyptian courts, especially that during the past two years more than 1,000 people received death sentences and life imprisonment, to be later overturned by Egyptian Courts of Cassation.”
“Though it is not final, the verdict is unfounded, goes against truth and contains misleading claims which are contrary to the policy of the State of Qatar towards all sister countries, including Egypt.”
The charge of espionage on Qatar against a former president and mediamen is surprising and unacceptable, he said. He pointed out that such a verdict is not surprising after the death sentences and life terms issued by Egyptian courts in the last two years and abolished by the Egyptian Court of Cassation.
He stressed that such verdicts which lack the sense of justice and which are founded on reasons unrelated to the law, but on other known reasons, do not help in consolidating the fraternal ties between the sister countries.
He said Qatar is in the forefront of countries that sided with Egyptian people since the January 25 revolution. This stance stems from the duty between brotherly Arab peoples, he added.
He said that Qatar has been and will remain committed to the fraternal values and bonds with the brotherly Egyptian people.
Egypt’s first democratically elected leader, Morsi was ousted by the military in in a 2013 military coup — after only one year in office — following protests against his presidency.
He has since been slapped with life-in-prison and death sentences for “conspiring against Egypt” — with Palestinian group Hamas and Lebanon’s Hezbollah — and for breaking out of jail in 2011.
He has also been sentenced with a 20-year jail term for allegedly committing murder.
The former president also faces charges of “insulting” Egypt’s judiciary.
Morsi and his co-defendants, along with a number of independent observers, say the charges are politically driven.
Since Morsi’s ouster and imprisonment, the Egyptian authorities have launched a harsh crackdown on his Muslim Brotherhood group — killing hundreds and jailing tens of thousands — while relations between Cairo and Doha have nosedived.
