Egypt court upholds life sentence for Mursi in Qatar case

A top court has upheld a life sentence against Egypt’s ousted President Mohammed Mursi on charges stemming from a trial over spying for Qatar, a judicial official and his lawyer said.
The court of cassation upheld a life sentence first passed in June 2016 on the charge of leading an illegal group but threw out a 15-year sentence on the charge of having stolen secret documents, said his lawyer Abdel Moneim Abdel Maqsud.
A life sentence in Egypt amounts to 25 years in prison, and the court’s rulings cannot be appealed.
Mursi, Egypt’s first democratically elected president, was overthrown by the military in July 2013 following mass protests against his one-year rule.
The court also upheld death sentences for documentary producer Ahmed Ali Abdo, EgyptAir cabin crew member Mohamed Adel Kilani and university teaching assistant Ahmed Ismail Thabet, as well as a life term and 15 years for two others, the official said.
The trial hinged on accusations that the defendants had passed on state secrets to Qatar.
Qatar has denied the charges.
Mursi, who came to power after the 2011 uprising that toppled longtime strongman Hosni Mubarak, was elected in 2012 and ruled for a year before his ouster.
His year in office was divisive and millions had taken to the streets demanding his resignation before the army toppled and detained him.
He has been sentenced separately to 20 years in prison over deadly clashes between protesters and security forces outside his palace in December 2012.
A court overturned a death sentence in another trial over prison breaks and violence during the 2011 revolt, pending a retrial.
Following Mursi’s overthrow, a police crackdown killed hundreds of protesters who supported him.
Since his ouster, Egypt has been battling an insurgency by a Daesh affiliate based in North Sinai that has killed hundreds of policemen and soldiers and dozens of Coptic Christians.
Courts have sentenced hundreds of extremists to death, including other Muslim Brotherhood leaders, though many have appealed and been granted new trials.
A veteran activist and engineering professor, Mursi emerged as a compromise candidate for the Brotherhood to field in Egypt’s first democratic presidential election in 2012.
He narrowly won the vote but was soon accused of failing to represent all Egyptians and of trampling the ideals of the anti-Mubarak uprising.