Morsi, co-defendants deny charges in espionage case

Former president Mohammad Morsi and six other defendants of the Muslim Brotherhood group cadres have denied charges of leaking classified state documents which harm state interests in the first trial session which opened earlier in the day at Cairo Criminal Court.
The defendants claimed that they have been kidnapped and were forced to make confessions of their involvement in the case.
Counselor Mohammad Shireen Fahmy, head of the trial session, rebuked Morsi over his remarks against the court and his claims that he is still "the legitimate president of Egypt".
The defendants face charges of leaking some classified information to the Qatari Intelligence and Doha-based Aljazeera channel about the national security and the Egyptian Armed Forces with the aim of harming Egypt's army and national interests.
Among the defendants are the former head of Morsi's office, Ahmed Abdel Aatti, and secretary Ameen al Serafi, along with figures from Aljazeera news network and the Muslim Brotherhood's Misr 25 satellite channel.
The classified documents included information on military positions and armaments, as well as additional information on the country's general policies.
These documents were sent from the general and military intelligence, the Armed Forces, the Interior Ministry's National Security and Administrative Monitoring Authority to the presidential institution during Morsi's reign.