Morsi charged over 2011 jailbreak

Deposed Egyptian president accused of conspiring with Hamas in 2011 prison raid that freed him and other Muslim Brotherhood members.

CAIRO // Egypt's former president Mohammed Morsi has been formally charged with espionage over a prison break that freed him and at least 30 other Islamists in 2011, it was reported yesterday.

Hassan Samir, the investigating judge, ordered Mr Morsi to be remanded for 15 days.

It was unclear whether that meant he would be moved from an undisclosed location, where the army has been holding him "for his own safety", to a prison.

Mr Samir alleged Mr Morsi had conspired with Hamas, the Muslim Brotherhood offshoot that governs the Gaza Strip.

The former president and Hamas are alleged to have carried out "aggressive acts in the country", a report in the state-run Al Ahram newspaper says.

Mr Morsi said in 2011 that he and fellow Brotherhood members were broken out of jail, but he insisted they did not know the men who freed them.

He had been held in Wadi Natroun prison by the security services of former president Hosni Mubarak during the uprising that eventually toppled Mubarak.

Mr Morsi was removed from power by the military on July 3, leading to calls from rights groups and other nations to stop holding him without charges.