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Former Egypt president Mohamed Morsi found guilty of insulting judiciary Former Egypt president Mohamed Morsi found guilty of insulting judiciary
(about 4 hours later)
The former Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi has been given a three-year prison sentence and fined 2m Egyptian pounds (£83,000) after being found guilty of insulting the judiciary. The former Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi has been sentenced to three years in prison and fined 2m Egyptian pounds (£83,000) after being found guilty of insulting the judiciary.
Nineteen others tried by the Cairo court in the same case were also handed three-year jail terms but fined lesser amounts ranging from 30,000 to 1m Egyptian pounds. The 19 included the Egyptian activist Alaa Abdel Fattah and the politician and television presenter Tawfik Okasha. Nineteen others were also jailed for three years on Saturday, but fined lesser amounts ranging from 30,000 to 1m Egyptian pounds.
The verdicts can be appealed. The case involved 25 defendants, five of whom – including the prominent human rights activist Alaa Abdel-Fattah and the political commentator Amr Hamzawy – were fined 30,000 Egyptian pounds. Abdel-Fattah is serving a five-year sentence for participating in an illegal protest in 2013. Hamzawy lives in exile.
Morsi, who was democratically elected after Egypt’s 2011 revolution, was overthrown in 2013 by then-general Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, now the president, following mass protests against his rule. The defendants were accused of insulting the judiciaryin media statements and on social media. The prosecution argued the statements were inciting and expressed contempt towards the court and the judiciary.
He was immediately arrested and was serving a 20-year sentence for inciting the killing of protesters during demonstrations in 2012, and a 25-year sentence for spying for Qatar. The court ordered all defendants to pay 1m Egyptian pounds (£41,500), to the Judges Club, an unofficial body in charge of dealing with judicial affairs.
Among those who received prison sentences were 11 former members of parliament, the prominent Islamist lawyer Montaser Al-Zayat, and four journalists, Abdel Halim Qandel, Nour Al-Deen Abdel Hafez, Abdel Rahman Al-Qaradawi and Ahmed Al-Sharqawi.
All the verdicts can be appealed.
Morsi is still being tried in several other cases, some related to espionage and conspiring with foreign groups. In November 2016 an earlier death penalty for charges relating to a mass jailbreak was overturned.
The former president, who led the now-outlawed Muslim Brotherhood group, is already serving a life sentenceafter being found guilty of spying for Qatar. He was also given a 20-year sentence over the killing of protesters in December 2012.
Following Morsi’s ousting, Egyptian authorities launched a severe crackdown on Islamists and secular and liberal activists, thousands of whom were jailed. The government has also banned all unauthorised demonstrations under a law adopted in late 2013.
Morsi came to power in 2013 following the 25 January revolution, but little more than a year later mass protests against him led to his removal by the armed forces on 3 July 2014.
Violent clashes between his supporters and security forces increased, reaching their peak following the violent dispersal of the Rabaa Al-Adaweyya sit-in on 14 August 2013. The protesters demanded Morsi be returned to his post as the legitimate president of Egypt, describing the 3 July events as a military coup.