Mohammed Morsi sentence: Egypt's ex-president could face death penalty

Egypt's ex-president could face the death penalty on Tuesday 21 April on charges of inciting the deaths of protesters, as the first verdict looms nearly two years after his fall from power.

Morsi, who was toppled by the then army chief and now president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on 3 July 2013 amid mass protests, is now standing trial for a raft of charges, along with many senior leaders of his blacklisted Muslim Brotherhood movement.

The trials, four in all, started last November but none have concluded.

Death sentence for the former president-elect

Tuesday's verdict involves a case in which Morsi and 14 other defendants, seven of whom are on the run, are charged with the killing of three protesters and torturing several more during clashes in front of the Al-Ittihadiya presidential palace on 5 December, 2012.

The protesters were demonstrating against a Morsi decree that put him above judicial review when they clashed with his supporters.

Defence lawyers say there is no proof Morsi incited the clashes, and that most of those killed were Muslim Brotherhood members.

Experts say a death sentence on Tuesday cannot be ruled out, especially since judges have already passed harsh verdicts against leaders of his Muslim Brotherhood party.

Even if Morsi escapes the death penalty, he could still face life in jail.

The Brotherhood itself denies resorting to violence.

Facing further sentences

The former president also faces the death penalty in two other trials, including one in which he is accused of spying for foreign powers and escaping from prison during the 2011 anti-Mubarak revolt.

Separate verdicts in those two cases are expected on 16 May.

This month, the chief of banned Muslim Brotherhood, Mohamad Badie, and 13 others were sentenced to death by an Egyptian court for conspiring against the state.

In November, a court dropped murder charges against former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in his own trial over the deaths of hundreds of protesters during 2011, which led to his being ousted

The former leader had been charged along with seven of his former police commanders for the death of 239 protesters – a fraction of the 850 or so people which activists believe died in the unrest.