Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi. Photo: Wilson Dias/ABr via Wikimedia Commons.

Egyptian prosecutors announced Thursday that they will investigate allegations that ousted president Mohamed Morsi escaped from prison during the 2011 revolution with help from the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas, the Associated Press has reported.

Chief prosecutor Hesham Barakat has received testimonies from a court in the Suez Canal city of Ismailia that will act as the basis for an investigation by state security prosecutors into the jailbreak by Morsi and more than 30 other Muslim Brotherhood leaders, officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, told the AP.

Earlier this week lawyer Amir Salem said that rulings issued by the Ismailia Appeals Court on June 23 implicated Morsi, along with several leading Brotherhood officials, in law-breaking during the January 25th revolution.

“The intelligence agencies intercepted calls between Hamas and Brotherhood officials on 24, 25, 26 and 27 January 2011,” Salem said.

“Brotherhood officials clearly viewed Palestinian Hamas as its military arm. They asked Hamas to help the Brotherhood ride the wave of the uprising against President Hosni Mubarak by infiltrating Egypt and ensuring the group emerged on top.”

On January 24, according to Salem: “Mohamed Morsi contacted Khaled Meshaal, chairman of Hamas’s political bureau, requesting help on the ground which Meshaal promised to provide. It was a direct result of this call that Morsi and 33 Brotherhood officials were arrested and taken into custody on 27 January 2011, and held in a security detention facility in 6 October city. Then as chaos spread following the collapse of security forces on 28 January 2011 Morsi and his colleagues were transferred to Wadi Al-Natroun prison near Alexandria.”

“Hamas infiltrated the borders with Sinai and on their way to prisons located in the Nile Delta and on the Cairo-Alex desert road killed tens of Egyptian citizens,” claims Salem. “When Hamas and Brotherhood activists stormed the Wadi Al-Natroun prison to set Morsi and others free they killed a further 14 Egyptian citizens.”

“In asking foreign armed militias to infiltrate the country and release jihadist elements from prison Morsi acted treasonably,” says Salem. “If convicted he could face execution or life imprisonment.”

Hamas has denied any role in the jailbreak at Wadi el-Natroun prison northwest of Cairo. Morsi and other Brotherhood leaders have said local residents helped them escape.