Egyptian court overturns Mohammed Morsi's life sentence

CAIRO, Nov. 22 (UPI) -- Egypt's highest court overturned former Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi's life sentence Tuesday, calling for a retrial.

Cairo's Court of Cassation, the country's highest appeals court, threw out the second of Morsi's two life sentences. He was convicted on espionage charges involving the Palestinian militant group Hamas and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard. The court ordering a retrial.

Last week the same court overturned his death sentence, in a prison escape case, as well as the sentences of several of Morsi's associates.

The ruling Tuesday covered 21 defendants, including Morsi, three of whom initially received death sentences and 16 of whom received life sentences. A third received a seven-year sentence; all sentences were overturned by the court on Tuesday. Morsi will be retried, and must still serve a 20-year sentence after his conviction for responsibility for illegal torture and detention of protesters in 2012. That verdict was confirmed in an appeals court in October.

Morsi was arrested and tried after he was ousted from the presidency by the Egyptian military in 2013.