Egypt's Grand Mufti court upholds death sentence of former President Morsi

CAIRO, June 16 (UPI) -- Egypt's Grand Mufti court in Cairo on Tuesday upheld the death sentence of former President Mohamed Morsi over a prison break.

Morsi and more than 100 Muslim Brotherhood members were sentenced to death in May for breaking out of the Wadi Natroun prison in 2011. The decision to uphold the death sentence was passed to Egypt's highest religious authority, the Grand Mufti.

The death sentence can still be appealed.

Morsi was also sentenced to life imprisonment on espionage charges along with 16 other Muslim Brotherhood members, accused of spying for the Palestinian militant Islamist group Hamas. Three other senior Muslim Brotherhood leaders were sentenced to death by hanging.

In Egypt, life imprisonment sentences equate to 25 years in prison.

The judge said the Muslim Brotherhood "collaborated with Palestinian Hamas to infiltrate Egypt's eastern borders and attack prisons."

Morsi is already serving 20 years after being convicted of inciting violence and torturing protesters outside the presidential palace in 2012, but was acquitted in their deaths. He has previously said he is innocent of all the charges, claiming he is the victim of a coup led by current President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi.

Morsi was Egypt's first freely elected president after the downfall of Hosni Mubarak's 30-year rule, but unrest began less than a year into his term when he declared himself to have far-reaching powers. He was overthrown in 2013.