1st LD: Egypt court overturns Morsi death sentence, orders retrial

An Egyptian court on Tuesday overturned a death sentence against ousted Islamist President Mohamed Morsi and ordered a retrial in a mass jailbreak during the 2011 uprising, official news agency MENA reported.

The Court of Cassation, Egypt's highest degree court, ordered that Morsi and five co-defendants, including the supreme guide of the now outlawed Muslim Brotherhood, Mohamed Badie, will also be retried.

Morsi was sentenced to death in June 2015 in connection with a mass jailbreak during the country's 2011 uprising that toppled President Hosni Mubarak.

He, along with 129 members of the Brotherhood, was charged of assaulting a prison, killing officers and fleeing in cooperation with Palestinian Hamas movement's affiliates.

The jailbreak helped more than 20,000 criminals escape the prison and spread chaos in the country.

Morsi, the first democratically elected president, was overthrown by the army in response to mass protests against his one year rule in July 2013.

He received several prison sentences in other cases related to spying and espionage, in which he appealed.

Tuesday court's ruling cancelled the only execution sentence he was facing.

In another case related with voilence and killing protesters outside the presidential palace in 2013, Morsi was handed his first final sentence, 20 years in prison. Endit