Former Egyptian President Mohamed Morsy
Updated 5:32 AM ET, Tue April 21, 2015
Cairo (CNN) Ousted Egyptian President Mohamed Morsy was sentenced to 20 years in prison Tuesday on charges of inciting violence and facilitating the killing and torturing of protesters in 2012.
The case is subject to appeal.
Morsy stood trial with 14 co-defendants, including some of his presidential staff.
Morsy, who became Egypt’s first democratically elected president in June 2012, was deposed by a military coup in July 2013.
Attorney Mohamed Selim El-Awa cited constitutional articles to the court that stipulated the steps for removing a president and putting him on trial — something that required the approval of two-thirds of the parliament and a special court made of the country’s top judges.
At various points in the trial, Morsy asserted that he was the president of Egypt and refused to recognize the court as legal.
Early in the trial, Morsy and his co-defendants were held in a metal cage in court. Later, that cage was enclosed in soundproof glass — which became part of the reason Morsy’s defense team withdrew from the case.
More verdicts to come
This is the first trial Morsy was referred to after his removal from power. He is also standing trial in three other cases, including two on charges of espionage
The third trial involves a 2011 jailbreak. Morsy and dozens of co-defendants are accused of collaborating with the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas and the Lebanese Shia group Hezbollah to escape from the Wadi-Natroun prison, Egypt’s state-owned Ahram Online news agency said.
In May, a fifth trial is slated to start on charges of insulting the judiciary.
Categories: Africa