Egypt’s ousted president appeals death sentence

Rasa - Egypt’s ousted President Mohammed Morsi has filed an appeal against a death sentence given to him over a jail break during the rule of former dictator Hosni Mubarak.

News ID: 3166

Date: 16 August 2015 - 23:45

RNA - Muslim Brotherhood's top lawyer said Saturday that he had presented an appeal to Egypt’s Court of Cassation for the over 100 prisoners sentenced in the case, including Morsi, Press TV reported.

Abdel-Moneim Abdel-Maqsud said that a separate file has been submitted to the court to appeal a life sentence given to Morsi and several other top members of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood over espionage charges.

Egyptian courts upheld both the death and life sentences in June, defying an international outrage over President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi’s heavy-handed crackdown on dissent.

Hundreds have been sentenced to death since Sisi deposed Morsi in July 2013 and replaced him a few weeks later in what was branded as a coup d’état against Egypt’s first democratically elected president.

Of those sentenced, seven have been executed, and the rest have mostly won retrials.

Abdel-Maqsud said the official papers he submitted to the court on Saturday included “180 reasons” for why the defense team appealed the sentences issued in the two cases.

Morsi still considers himself the “legitimate president of Egypt,” insisting that his trial is beyond the jurisdiction of the Cairo criminal court.

He has already appealed an April 21 verdict that sentenced him to 20 years behind bars for allegedly ordering the arrest and torture of protesters during his time in office.

He faces another trial on August 18 over charges of leaking classified documents to Qatar. A fifth trial is expected for early October, in which Morsi should respond to charges of insulting the judiciary.

Many Egyptians fear that Sisi’s recent calls on the judiciary to speed up terrorism-related trials could eventually lead to the execution of Morsi and other top Brotherhood figures, including the group’s leader Mohamed Badie.

In his recent court appearance last week, Morsi asked judiciary officials to transfer him to a private medical center, as he suggested that an attempt had been made to poison him inside the prison.

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