Egypt’s Morsi appeals death sentence

Former Islamist president was sentenced in July; appeal also submitted for other Muslim Brotherhood members

By AFP 15 August 2015, 5:28 pm

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Egypt's ousted Islamist president Mohammed Morsi in a defendant cage in the Police Academy courthouse, May 8, 2014, in Cairo, Egypt. (Tarek el-Gabbas/AP/File)

CAIRO, Egypt — The defense for ousted Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi filed an appeal against a death sentence and prison term for the Islamist former leader, a lawyer said on Saturday.

Morsi, who was toppled by the army in 2013, was sentenced to death in June for allegedly participating in prison breaks and violence against police, and to life in prison for espionage.

Morsi had been in prison at the start of the 2011 uprising against veteran leader Hosni Mubarak, and escaped along with thousands of others after protesters attacked police stations across the country.

“We submitted an appeal to the Court of Cassation to all prisoners sentenced, including Morsi,” his lawyer Abdel Moneim Abdel Maqsud told AFP.

Hundreds of Islamists have been sentenced to death in a crackdown following Morsi’s overthrow.

Most have won retrials.

Seven so far have been executed, including six defendants sentenced to death by a military court for allegedly participating in militant attacks.

Morsi was sentenced to death in mid-May, along with more than 100 others.

FILE: A supporter of Egypt's ousted President Mohammed Morsi cries during a protest against Egyptian Defense Minister Gen. Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi at Nasr City, where protesters have installed a camp and hold daily rallies, in Cairo, Egypt, Monday, July 29, 2013 (AP/Manu Brabo) — FILE: A supporter of Egypt’s ousted President Mohammed Morsi cries during a protest against Egyptian Defense Minister Gen. Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi at Nasr City, where protesters have installed a camp and hold daily rallies, in Cairo, Egypt, Monday, July 29, 2013 (AP/Manu Brabo)

After the prison break during the 2011 uprising that toppled Mubarak, he was elected president in the first free election the country had seen.
The Brotherhood went on to win every election held in Egypt between 2011 and until Morsi’s ouster in July 2013. Its popularity began to dramatically slide after Morsi took office in June 2012 and he decreed himself above any sort of oversight later that year and became increasingly perceived to be working for the Brotherhood and its supporters, not all Egyptians.

His removal from office in July 2014 came after days of mass street protests by Egyptians demanding that he be removed because of his divisive policies. Morsi’s successor, Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, was the military chief at the time and led the ouster. El-Sissi ran for president last year and won the vote in a landslide.

— AP contributed to this report.