A court in Egypt has sentenced six people, including two Al-Jazeera employees, news producer Alaa Omar Mohammed and news editor Ibrahim Mohammed  Hilal  to  death for purportedly  leaking  documents related to national security to Qatar and the Doha-based TV network during the rule of Islamist president Mohammed Morsi.
Morsi,  who was ousted by the military in July 2013 and the case’s top defendant, was also sentenced to 25 years in prison. He has already been sentenced to death in another case.
The two Al-Jazeera employees  were sentenced in absentia along with Asmaa al-Khateib, who worked for Rasd, a media network widely suspected of links to Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood.
The Brotherhood was banned and declared a terrorist group after Morsi’s ouster.
Three other defendants sentenced to death are documentary producer Ahmed Afify, EgyptAir cabin crew member Mohammed Keilany and academic Ahmed Ismail.
Saturday’s verdicts can however, be appealed.
