Egypt to try Morsi for giving Qatar security papers

Egypt's deposed president Mohamed Morsi will be tried on charges of giving Qatar documents relating to national security, the state prosecutor said on Saturday.

The Islamist former head of state already faces the death penalty in several trials, and his supporters have been the target of a deadly crackdown by the authorities since his ouster in July 2013.

No date has yet been set for the new trial for Morsi, who is suspected of providing sensitive documents to the energy-rich Gulf state during his single year of turbulent rule.

Morsi will go on trial for having "handed over to Qatari intelligence documents linked to national security . . . in exchange for one million dollars (772,000 euros)", the prosecutor said in a statement.

Ten other defendants will be tried alongside Morsi, including his former secretary Amin El-Serafi and Ibrahim Mohamed Helal, whom the prosecutor said was chief editor of the Doha-based Al-Jazeera satellite television network.

In the statement, the prosecutor said the documents supplied to Qatar were given to "top heads from Al-Jazeera".

The interior ministry in March accused Serafi of handing over documents regarding the army, its weaponry and troop deployments to an Al-Jazeera chief editor and member of Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood.

The movement was designated as a terrorist group after Morsi's overthrow on 3 July 2013.

Relations between Egypt and Qatar soured after Morsi's ouster, as Cairo criticised Doha's backing for the Brotherhood.

Qatar has denounced Egypt's crackdown on Morsi supporters which has left more than 1,400 people dead since his ouster. Thousands more have been detained and imprisoned, and hundreds have been sentenced to death in speedy mass trials.

Morsi is already on trial in three separate cases - one over the killing of protesters during his presidency, another for allegedly conspiring with foreign powers including Iran to destabilise Egypt, and a third over a jailbreak during the 2011 uprising that ousted strongman Hosni Mubarak.

Morsi could face the death penalty if convicted.

Egypt has also jailed Al-Jazeera journalists on charges of helping the Brotherhood, triggering an international outcry.