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Mursi secretary leaked intelligence documents to “foreign country,” Al Jazeera—Interior Minister | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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Al-Jazeera English bureau chief Mohamed Fahmy, center, producer Baher Mohamed, center left, and correspondent Peter Greste, second right, stand in a courtroom along with several other defendants during their trial on terror charges, in Cairo, Egypt, Monday, March 31, 2014. (AP Photo/Sarah El Deeb)


Al-Jazeera English bureau chief Mohamed Fahmy, center, producer Baher Mohamed, center left, and correspondent Peter Greste, second right, stand in a courtroom along with several other defendants during their trial on terror charges, in Cairo, Egypt, Monday, March 31, 2014. (AP Photo/Sarah El Deeb)

Al-Jazeera English bureau chief Mohamed Fahmy, center, producer Baher Mohamed, center left, and correspondent Peter Greste, second right, stand in a courtroom along with several other defendants during their trial on terror charges, in Cairo, Egypt, on Monday, March 31, 2014. (AP Photo/Sarah El Deeb)

Cairo, Asharq Al-Awsat—A former aide of ousted Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi leaked classified intelligence and security documents to a foreign country and to Al Jazeera, Egypt’s Interior Minister Ibrahim Mohamed said on Sunday.

Speaking at a news conference, Mohamed said: “National security investigations found that a secretary to the deposed president had seized several security and intelligence documents and reports and smuggled them out of the presidential institution to an Arab country.”

The minister did not specify which country, however.

Mohamed alleges that Ameen Al-Serafi, one of Mursi’s secretaries, obtained confidential documents and instructed his daughter to leak the information to Mohammed Ibrahim Al-Hilali, a news editor at the Al Jazeera TV channel.

The accusation comes just one day before another session of the trial of three Al Jazeera reporters currently being held in Egypt.

Australian Peter Greste, Canadian–Egyptian Mohamed Fahmy and Egyptian Baher Mohamed are due in court on Monday for the third hearing of a trial in which they are accused of spreading false news, cooperating with a terrorist organization and undermining Egypt’s national security. Al Jazeera and the defendants deny the charges.

Also on Monday, a court in the city of Alexandria sentenced a group of 33 people to six years in prison each for their role in clashes between pro- and anti-Mursi demonstrators in the city in December last year. The group are believed to have been demonstrating in favor of Mursi.

Court officials told reporters that the group were also fined 50,000 Egyptian pounds (just over 7,000 US dollars) each, after being convicted of taking part in unauthorized demonstrations and assaulting a police officer.

Mursi is also currently standing trial on a number of charges including collaborating with foreign countries and organizations, including Hezbollah and Hamas, to coordinate terrorist acts in Egypt, as well as disclosing state secrets. The charges carry the death penalty.

Meanwhile, violence escalated at several universities across Egypt as pro-Mursi students continued to protest against the removal of the Islamist president.

During clashes, a student from Al-Azhar University was shot dead in front of the students’ residence halls while another was injured.

Al-Azhar University said it had opened an investigation into the two incidents.

Students also reportedly smashed two cars on campus, one belonging to the president of Al-Azhar University, Dr. Osama El-Abd, and a riot police vehicle.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, an official security source told Asharq Al-Awsat that the president of the university asked the police to enter the campus to quell the protests.

Eyewitnesses said the police chased protestors while firing tear gas canisters and arrested eight pro-Brotherhood students.

Al-Azhar University condemned what it described as “acts of sabotage” carried out by the students and an official university source told Asharq Al-Awsat the university would “take all legal measures against those involved in violence.”