Egypt Court Sentence Morsi To Life In Jail For Spying

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An Egyptian court has sentenced former president, Mohamed Morsi to life in prison on charges of spying for Palestinian group Hamas, Lebanese group Hezbollah, and Iran. The court still has to decide whether to confirm or commute death sentences it handed down against Morsi in a separate case related to a 2011 prison break.

According to Aljazeera, general guide of the Muslim Brotherhood Mohamed Badie was also sentenced to 25 years in jail on spying charges on Tuesday. The court handed town a total of 17 life sentences on charges of spying. Muslim Brotherhood leader Khairat el-Shater and two others were sentenced to death in the same case. Death sentences were also handed to 13 other defendants in absentia.

Morsi and 100 other defendants who received the death sentence were also expected to hear the final verdict on Tuesday in the case related to their escape from prison during the 2011 uprising that ousted former president Hosni Mubarak. Yehia Ghanem, a former editor of Al Ahram newspaper, told Al Jazeera that it was impossible to guess what the outcome would be in the jailbreak case.