Former interior minister Mohamed Ibrahim testified in front of the Cairo Criminal Court Tuesday, in former president Mohamed Morsi’s ‘Qatar espionage’ trial, stating that the Muslim Brotherhood was in control of the administration within the presidency.
Ibrahim also said that following the 25 January Revolution, the Brotherhood was striving to consolidate power and weaken state institutions, especial the police force, in an attempt to establish an “Islamic caliphate”.
Regarding the leaked documents, Ibrahim said that they can only be circulated by the president and his office manager, also a defendant in the case. Ibrahim added that “top secret” documents are kept in the president’s office in utmost secrecy, with the documents commonly known to be shredded or kept under the label “top secret”.
On the documents leaked to Qatari- satellite channel Al Jazeera, Ibrahim confirmed that he was informed by the head of Homeland Security that the defendants had smuggled the documents following the events of 30 June 2013.
Ibrahim added that he was aware of the documents that were leaked to Al Jazeera, and broadcasted by the channel; however he could not confirm this issue, and the Homeland Security officers could not be questioned regarding that.
The court had scheduled a session to listen to witnesses for 10 September. The list of witnesses includes Ibrahim, along with former head of the president’s office Mostafa Tala’at , and former chief of the Republican Guard Mohamed Zaki.
The defendants are accused of leaking important national security documents and information on the Egyptian army to Qatar during Morsi’s year-long tenure, ending in July 2013.
In September 2014, late prosecutor general Hisham Barakat had referred the defendants to criminal court on charges of illegally obtaining copies of intelligence reports, and confidential reports on the armed forces’ plans. They were also accused of intending to deliver the documents to the Qatari satellite network, Al Jazeera.
