Egyptian court overturns ex-president Mursi’s death sentence

Egypt’s Court of Cassation on Tuesday overturned a death sentence against deposed president Mohammed Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood and ordered a retrial.

Mursi was sentenced to death in June 2015 in connection with a mass jail break during Egypt’s 2011 uprising.

Mursi, the first president to be democratically elected after the revolution, was overthrown in mid-2013 by general-turned-president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi following mass protests against his rule, and immediately arrested.

Tuesday’s court ruling means he is no longer under threat of execution, although he is serving three lengthy jail sentences.

He was sentenced to 20 years in prison without parole on charges arising from the killing of protesters in December 2012. He was also sentenced to 40 years on charges of spying for Qatar and handed a life sentence on charges of spying for the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas.

Since toppling Mursi, Sisi has tried to crush the Brotherhood, which he says is part of a terrorist network that poses an existential threat to the Arab and Western worlds.

The Brotherhood, Egypt’s oldest political movement, says its activities are entirely peaceful and denies using violent methods.