Egypt’s Court of Cassation on Tuesday annulled one of two life sentences handed down against the former president Mohamed Morsi after his removal in 2013 by the army.
Egyptian court annuls ex-President Morsi's life sentence, orders retrial
The court also called for a retrial in the case that revolves around allegations that Morsi was engaged in espionage activities for Palestinian movement, Hamas, AFP news agency reports.
A judicial source and a lawyer of Mr. Morsi told AFP that the court also canceled the death sentences handed down to other senior officials of the Muslim Brotherhood. Morsi rose to the presidency on the ticket of the Brotherhood’s political party, the Freedom and Justice Party.
According to lawyer Abdel Maqsoud, “the verdict was vitiated by legal defects”. Morsi has also been accused tried for spying for Lebanese group Hezbollah, and Iran.
Morsi, the successor of long serving Hosni Mubarak, and his supporters have been the target of a crackdown since he was toppled in July 2013 by former army chief and now democratically elected President, Abdel Fattah al-Sissi.
Egyptian court to review appeals by former president Morsi https://t.co/0E6PH0IwK4— africanews (@africanews) July 22, 2016
In June 2015, Mr. Morsi was sentenced to life imprisonment after the trial for espionage, a sentence equivalent to 25 years of detention in Egypt.
The sentences of several leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood on trial alongside Morsi were also canceled by the same court, the lawyer further confirmed.
Morsi was sentenced to death in June 2015 for his role in massive prison escapes and attacks against the police during the revolt that expelled Hosni Mubarak from power in 2011.
Mohamed Morsi has already been sentenced in four trials in the last three years. His last conviction was in June 18 in another trial for espionage and this time for “stealing secret documents concerning state security and delivering them to Qatar through intermediaries”. He was again sentenced to life imprisonment.
Morsi is under detention at the Borg-el-Arab prison near Alexandria.