An Egyptian court has sentenced ousted
President Mohammed Morsi to 20 years in
jail for ordering the arrest and torture of
protesters during his rule.
It is the first verdict he has
received since
his overthrow and is one of several trials
he faces.
Morsi was deposed by the military in July
2013 following mass street protests
against his rule.
Since then, the authorities have banned
his Muslim Brotherhood movement and
arrested thousands of his supporters.
Morsi and 14 other Brotherhood figures
escaped a more serious charge of inciting
the killing of protesters, which could have
carried the death sentence.
Most of the other defendants were also
given 20-year prison sentences. Morsi's
legal team have said they will appeal.
Morsi's co-defendants gave a defiant
four-fingered salute during the hearing
Morsi's trials
This verdict is just one of several Mr Morsi
faces. They include:
Colluding with foreign militants in a
plot to free Islamists in mass prison
breaks during the 2011 uprising
against Hosni Mubarak
Espionage and conspiring to commit
terrorist acts in Egypt with the
Palestinian movement Hamas,
Lebanon's Hezbollah and Iran's
Revolutionary Guards
Endangering national security by
leaking state secrets and sensitive
documents to Qatar via the Doha-
based Al Jazeera network
What's become of Egypt's Morsi?
Morsi stood accused of inciting
supporters to kill a journalist and
opposition protesters in clashes outside
the presidential palace in late 2012.
As crowds grew outside the palace, Morsi
ordered the police to disperse them.
They refused, so the Muslim Brotherhood
brought in their own supporters. Eleven
people died in the ensuing clashes,
mostly from the Brotherhood.
The defendants were confined to a
cage during the verdict
Security was tightened outside court
for the hearing
Hearing the verdict, Morsi and the other
defendants gave a four-fingered salute, a
symbol of the deadly clearance of
Brotherhood supporters at the Rabaah al-
Adawiya mosque in 2013.
A senior Brotherhood figure, Amr Darrag,
called the ruling a "travesty of justice".
"They want to pass a life sentence for
democracy in Egypt," he said.
Ramy Ghanem, a lawyer for one of those
injured in the clashes, expressed surprise
that Morsi escaped the more serious
charge, but told the AFP news agency the
sentences are "not bad".
There were deadly clashes between
supporters and opponents of the
Muslim Brotherhood in late 2012
Morsi was toppled by the army in 2013
after mass street protests against his
rule
However the brother of one of the victims
said he wanted to "enter the cage and pull
out his [Morsi's] intestines", according to
Reuters.
Morsi has rejected the authority of the
courts, shouting during his first trial that
he was the victim of a military coup.
On Monday, a court sentenced 22 Muslim
Brotherhood supporters to death for an
attack on a police station in Cairo, part of
an ongoing crackdown against the
Islamist movement.
Morsi was Egypt's first freely-elected
president, but protests began building
less than a year into his rule when he
issued a decree granting himself far-
reaching powers.
A court dropped charges of conspiracy to
kill protesters against Morsi's
predecessor, Hosni Mubarak, last year.
