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An Egyptian court has thrown out a death sentence against former President Mohammed Morsi and ordered a retrial on charges connected to a prison break during the 2011 uprising that forced longtime leader Hosni Mubarak from power, VOA reports.
The Court of Cassation said Tuesday five other co-defendants will also get new trials.
Morsi became Egypt’s first democratically elected president in 2012, but he lasted only a year in office before protesters held mass rallies accusing him of trying to monopolize power and failing to fix Egypt’s economy. Abdel Fattah el-Sissi, then Egypt’s military chief, led Morsi’s ouster before himself becoming president.
Under Sissi, the government has sharply cracked down on Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood. The group was once banned under Mubarak, and after a resurgence under Morsi’s rule, was declared a terrorist organization with most of its leaders arrested.
Even with Tuesday’s ruling, Morsi will remain in prison. He was convicted in three other cases, including one that carried a 20-year sentence on charges of killing protesters in December 2012 and another that brought a life sentence for spying on behalf of the Palestinian militant group Hamas.