Egyptian court death sentence for ex president Morsi

Pro-Morsi demonstration

A court in Egypt has imposed the death sentence on former president Mohammed Morsi.

He was sentenced to death along with more than one hundred other people over a mass prison break in 2011 when Hosni Mubarak was still in power.

Morsi was already imprisoned and serving a 20-year term on a charge of arresting and torturing protesters while he was in power.

The current president Abdul el-Sisi was responsible for killing over a thousand protesters when as head of the army he broke up massive demonstrations supporting Mubarak after he was overthrown.

Religious authorities must give their views on the sentence next.

In many cases the religious authorities rule against the death penalty although their ruling is just advisory.

Morsi was deposed in July 2013 after mass demonstrations against his rule.

The military headed by el-Sisi carried out the coup although many sources do not favour use of the term "coup".

Since overthrowing Morsi, the first democratically elected president, the Muslim Brotherhood to which he belonged and who supported his presidency has been declared a terrorist organization. Thousands of Morsi supporters have been arrested and hundreds sentenced to death after mass trials.

El-Sisi easily won election to the presidency in May of last year but the turnout was only 45 per cent and the Muslim Brotherhood was not allowed to run a candidate. 

In another sign that the Mubarak era is being legitimized again, an Egyptian court banned a football fan club, the Ultras, who played a leading role in the protests during the uprising against former president Mubarak.

Amr Darrag, a former minister in Morsi's government, said that the ruling on Saturday represented "one of the darkest days" in Egyptian history: "These latest charges are another deeply disturbing attempt to permanently erase democracy and the democratic process in Egypt."

Amnesty International denounced the death sentence as "a charade based on null and void procedures. In spite of el-Sisi's repressive rule, the US has recently released $1.3 billion in military aid to Egypt.

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