Cii Radio| Ayesha Ismail| 22 November 2016| 21 Safar 1438
Egypt’s Court of Cassation orders retrial in the case for deposed president who had a death sentence overturned earlier.
Egypt’s deposed president Mohamed Morsi has had a life sentence overturned by the country’s Court of Cassation, which ordered a retrial in the case that revolves around accusations of espionage with Palestinian group Hamas.
Morsi, Egypt’s first democratically elected president, had a death sentence overturned by the same court last week and a retrial was ordered.
Morsi was overthrown by a military coup in July 2013 after having served just one year of a four-year term.
The organisation to which he belonged, the Muslim Brotherhood, has since been outlawed. A government crackdown on the movement, as well as other groups, has resulted in tens of thousands of arrests and mass trials.
Morsi’s lawyer , Abdel Moneim Abdel Maqsoud, told AFP news agency that the sentences against several Muslim Brotherhood officials, who stood trial alongside him on charges of spying for Iran and Hamas, were also overturned.
Morsi was tried in an Egyptian court on several charges, including one of escaping prison during the 2011 uprising against then-president Hosni Mubarak.
He was also accused of sharing state secrets with foreign powers, including Qatar. His defence argued that he was merely engaging all foreign entities within the limits that any head of state would.
Morsi was given several sentences, including life, a 20-year prison term and the death penalty. He appealed against those sentences, but has already had the 20-year term confirmed by an Appellate Court.
He remains in jail on a separate espionage conviction.
Source – Al Jazeera
