|
The court last
week overturned a death sentence against Mursi in a separate
case, meaning he no longer faces execution.
Democratically elected after the 2011 uprising, Mursi was
overthrown in mid-2013 by Abdel Fattah al-Sisi following mass
protests against his rule, and was immediately arrested.
He remains in jail on separate convictions.
Mursi was one of 22 high-ranking Muslim Brotherhood officials
and supporters convicted last year of spying for fellow-Islamist
group Hamas.
The Court of Cassation's ruling on Tuesday overturns all
convictions in the case including life sentences against Mohamed
Badie, the General Guide of the Muslim Brotherhood, and 15
others.Senior Brotherhood officials Kheirat al-Shater and
Mohamed al-Beltagi as well as Mursi aide Ahmed Abdelatti had
originally been sentenced to death in the case and also saw
their convictions dropped on Tuesday.
Since toppling Mursi and winning a presidential election the
following year, Sisi, a former general, has crushed dissent.
Security forces killed hundreds of Mursi supporters in a single
day in 2013, in one of the bloodiest incidents in the country's
modern history.
Thousands of Muslim Brotherhood supporters have since been
detained and hundreds have received death sentences or lengthy
prison terms in mass trials condemned by human rights groups as
legally flawed and politically motivated.
The Egyptian government says it does not interfere in the work
of the judiciary. Egypt's judiciary says it is independent.
The government deems the Brotherhood, Egypt's oldest Islamist
movement, a terrorist group. The Brotherhood says it is
committed to peaceful activism.
(Reporting by Haitham Ahmed; Writing by Lin Noueihed; Editing by
Dominic Evans)
[© 2016 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2016 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 |
|
