Egypt repeals Morsi’s death sentence

An Egypt court today accepted the appeals of former President Mohamed Morsi and the leaders and members of the Muslim Brotherhood group in the case of “storming the prisons”, revoking the death sentences and jail  terms issued to them.

The Court of Cassation held a session which lasted only a few minutes today, it did not hear any new evidence but was satisfied with notes from previous hearings and a memorandum from the Public Prosecution which recommended the court accept the appeals and cancel the verdicts.

The verdict affects 129 defendants.

The defendants were being tried for storming Egyptian prisons and attacking security and police installations and officers during the January 2011 revolution.

Abdel-Moneim Abdel-Maksoud, the Brotherhood’s lawyer, said the Court of Cassation had applied the law correctly.

“The ruling was expected because [Morsi’s conviction] was legally flawed, and we are waiting for the retrial.”

Morsi is already serving a 20-year prison sentence for a conviction arising from the killings of protesters during demonstrations in 2012. He has also been sentenced to 40 years on charges of spying for Qatar and to life imprisonment on charges of spying for the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas.