Yasser Ali, spokesman for the presidency under former president Mohamed Morsi, has been referred to the criminal court on charges of joining a terrorist organisation, according to a source within the prosecution.
Ali stands accused of assisting former prime minister Hisham Qandil to evade the authorities by allowing him to hide on his property, and joining a terrorist organisation. The case file was submitted to Prosecutor General Hisham Barakat on Saturday afternoon, according to the source.
Ali was Morsi’s campaign manager and a member of the Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party’s media committee in the 2012 presidential race. A presidential decree issued by Morsi following his electoral victory, appointed Ali as presidential spokesman.
Ali was arrested on 31 December 2013 and was immediately transferred to Tora Prison.
Qandil was arrested a week earlier than Ali, and the Ministry of Interior said he had been caught in a “mountainous path” with a smuggler while attempting to flee to Sudan.
In July the Court of Cassation ordered Qandil’s release from prison after a successful appeal by the former prime minister against a one-year sentence for not implementing a court order annulling the privatisation of Tanta Flax and Oil Company which was sold in 2005 to a Saudi investor.
