An Egyptian criminal court on Tuesday sentenced ousted President Mohammed Morsy to 20 years in prison over the killing of protesters in 2012.
The Cairo Criminal Court issued the verdict as Morsy and other defendants in the case mostly Muslim Brotherhood leaders stood in a soundproof glass cage inside a makeshift courtroom at Egypt’s national police academy.
The case stems from violence outside the presidential palace in December 2012. Morsy’s supporters attacked opposition protesters, sparking clashes that killed at least 10 people.
Judge Ahmed Youssef dropped murder charges and said the sentence was linked to the “show of force” and unlawful detention associated with the case.
In addition to Morsy, 12 Brotherhood leaders and supporters, including Mohammed el-Beltagy and Essam el-Erian, also were sentenced to 20 years in prison.
Morsy and the rest of the defendants raised the four-finger sign symbolising the sit-in at the Rabaah al-Adawiya mosque, where hundreds were killed when security forces violently dispersed the sprawling sit-in by Morsy’s supporters on August 14, 2013.
'Trial a travesty of justice'
"His trial has been a travesty of justice, which has been scripted and controlled by the government and entirely unsupported by evidence," Amr Darrag, a former minister under Morsy, said in a statement in Istanbul.
"They want to pass a life sentence for democracy in Egypt."
Morsi is now held at a high security prison near the Mediterranean city of Alexandria.
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