Egypt's Morsi sentenced to 20 years in jail
NEWS DESK (DİHA) - A Cairo court has sentenced former Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi and 12 other defendants to 20 years in prison.
Morsi was convicted on Tuesday of ordering the arrest and torture of protesters in clashes outside the presidential palace in December 2012. The court acquitted the former president of murder charges that could have seen him face the death penalty. Morsi also faces serious charges in three other cases, including an accusation that he passed intelligence to Qatar.
Mohammed Soudan, a senior member of the Muslim Brotherhood, and an official within its affiliated Freedom and Justice Party, told Al Jazeera that the trial was a "political farce". "The verdict is 100 percent a political verdict. Morsi, his advisers and supporters who are accused in this case were victims ... police and army officers watched as the opposition attacked the presidential palace," Soudan said.
"They killed 11 people and nine of them were supporters of Morsi. .. the verdict is a test for the protesters in the street, and also a test for the international community." Toby Cadman, an international human rights lawyer involved in a number of legal cases in Egypt told Al Jazeera that the trial underscored the politicisation of Egypt's judiciary.
"This judgement is a political move by the Sisi regime and a show trial against the country's first democratically elected leader," Cadman said.
(nt)
