An Egyptian court on Tuesday confirmed a death sentence of the country's first democratically elected leader, deposed president Mohamed Morsi, on charges of conspiring with foreign militants to break out of prison during the 2011 revolution.
The verdict, which came one month after the court issued a preliminary death sentence for the Muslim Brotherhood leader in the case, is the latest sign of the unraveling of the uprising that saw thousands of Egyptians take to the streets to call for greater freedom, justice and an end to decades of autocratic rule, USA Today reported.
Morsi was also sentenced to life in prison in a separate case on charges of conspiring with foreign powers to destabilize Egypt. The sentences had been referred to Egypt's top religious authority, the grand Mufti, for an official opinion and can be appealed in Egypt's highest court, a lengthy process that could take more than a year.
Judge Shaaban el-Shami called Morsi's year in office "an endless night that ended with the sun of June 30," referring to protests against the former Islamist leader in the summer of 2013 that culminated in a military coup led by now President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.
The case stems from the mass escape of thousands of prisoners from Wadi Natroun prison north of Cairo during the security void in the 2011 revolution. Morsi had been arrested days earlier and held under administrative detention, under emergency powers and without a judicial detention order.
