Egyptian court to rule on Morsi’s death sentence appeal

The Court of Cassation in Egypt is to rule on the appeal against the second death sentence given to former President Mohammed Morsi, Moheet.com has reported. The decision is expected on Saturday.

Morsi was the first democratically-elected president in Egypt. He was ousted and his supporters were violently suppressed by a military coup in 2013 after just one year in office.

The former president has been sentenced to death in two trials. The first saw him accused of espionage involving Hamas, the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement; the second was about allegations of passing confidential documents related to Egypt’s national security to Qatar.

Lawyer Abdel Moneim Abdel Maqsoud appealed against the first sentence and the Court of Cassation quashed it. Today, the same court is looking at the second appeal, this time against the sentence for allegedly passing information to Qatar.

Because such charges in Egyptian courts these days are viewed as being entirely political in nature it is not clear whether the court will overturn this sentence as it did before. Abdel Maqsoud told AFP that the sentence was “full of legal flaws.”

Six other Muslim Brotherhood leaders are included in today’s hearing along with Morsi.