Cairo: An Egyptian court on Tuesday ordered a media gag in reporting about the trial of deposed Islamist president Mohammad Mursi on charges of harming national security by leaking state documents to his Gulf ally Qatar.
Starting the third session in the trial, the Cairo Criminal Court announced the ban and ordered the hearing be held behind closed doors, judicial sources said. The court gave no explanation for the decision.
“Enforcing its right established by law, the court announces that the session will be held behind closed doors,” chief judge Mohammad Sherin said, according to the sources. Shortly later, security guards evacuated the spectators from the courtroom.
The focus of the session was examining evidence related to the case.
Mursi and ten others are accused of jeopardising national security by purportedly leaking sensitive state information to Qatar during Mursi’s one year in power.
Qatar is a staunch backer of Mursi’s Muslim Brotherhood. Ties have been strained between Egypt and Qatar since the army’s 2013 expulsion of Mursi.
When the trial opened in mid-February, Mursi called the trial a “farce”, insisting he was Egypt’s legitimate president.
Three co-defendants, including a Jordanian national working for the Doha-based broadcaster Al Jazeera, are being tried in absentia.
The trial is one of several in which the Islamist leader is charged with multiple criminal charges. If convicted, he could be punished by death.
A verdict is due on April 21 in a separate case in which Mursi is charged with inciting the murder of anti-Islamist protesters when he was in power.
A second ruling is scheduled for May 16 on charges raised against Mursi for allegedly spying for foreign agencies.
