Egypt Sentences Former President Morsi to Death for Escaping Prison



An Egyptian court has sentenced deposed President Mohammed Morsi and four others to death by hanging on charges of escaping from prison. Those sentenced to death include Supreme Guide Mohammed Badie, El Katatny, El-Erian and others. More than 80 others were sentenced to death in absentia. All sentences can be appealed.

The court had initially sentenced the former President and his co-defendants to death in May, but had sent court files to the Grand Mufti, Egypt’s top Islamic Scholar, for guidance.

During the 2011 revolution, Egypt’s Morsi and members of the Muslim Brotherhood escaped from Wadi al-Natroun prison. Charges were brought against Morsi and other defendants for damaging and torching prison buildings, murder and attempted murder of prison guards and looting.

While Morsi has never publicly given his account of the Wadi el-Natroun prison break, the former President had made a phone call to Al-Jazeera Mubasher TV as he was being freed. In the interview, Morsi claimed that prison guards fled after they failed to regain control of the environment.