Egypt’s top appellate court overturned Tuesday a life sentence against President Mohamed Morsi for conspiring with Palestinian group Hamas, and ordered a retrial, reported Anadolu Agency.
Some 16 leading members of the Muslim Brotherhood along with President Mohamed Morsi were slapped a life sentence for allegedly conspiring with Hamas Movement to carry out terrorist attacks.
In the same case, sixteen Brotherhood leaders were sentenced to death and two others were given seven years in prison.
However, Egypt’s Court of Cassation accepted an appeal filed by Morsi and his co-defendants against the sentences and ordered a retrial, according to a judicial source who prefered to remain anonymous.
In the same context, the same court overturned a death sentence against Morsi last week on charges of taking part in a mass jailbreak during the 25 January Revolution in 2011 that overthrew Hosni Mubarak’s autocratic regime after 30 years in power.
In June 2013, a military coup ousted Egypt’s first democratically elected president Mohamed Morsi after one year in office.
He is currently serving out three heavy jail terms for allegedly “killing protesters” and “spying” for Qatar. In addition, he is to to face charges of “insulting Egypt’s judiciary”.
Morsi and his co-defendants say that all the charges against them are politically motivated.
In addition, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have argued that all the trials carried out by the government of Abdel Fattah al-Sisi have been political in nature and violated the rights of thousands of Egyptians.
Amnesty International also described Morsi’s trials as being “fundamentally unfair” as they relied on evidence gathered while he was subject to enforced disappearance by the army during the months after being removed from power .
