Former Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi is being accused of espionage and conspiring with Hamas. 

According to the Washington Post, “The accusations are connected to a prison break during the 2011 uprising against autocrat Hosni Mubarak in which gunmen attacked a prison northwest of Cairo, freeing prisoners including Morsi and around 30 other figures from his Muslim Brotherhood. The prosecutors allege Morsi and the Brotherhood worked with Hamas to carry out the break, in which 14 guards were killed.” The Egyptian military views Hamas as a military threat, and therefore charged Morsi with espionage.

Morsi has been in custody since his ousting on July 3. However, this is the first update on his legal status since he was first detained. 

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The Muslim Brotherhood has denied the claims and mobilized supporters. Major protests took place in Cairo and other cities throughout the country. Abdel-Fatah el-Sissi called on his supporters to also march in the streets in solidarity. Sissi, the Commander of the Egyptian army, told ” Egyptians who backed the coup against Morsi to rally Friday for a military crackdown against “terrorism and violence.” Over the last month of political turbulence in the country, over 200 people have been killed. 

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According to the Huffington Post, MENA, the news agency, stated “Morsi has now been formally detained for 15 days pending the completion of the investigation into the accusations, but it did not say whether Morsi would be moved now to a regular detention facility where he could receive family visits.”