Morsi could face death sentence in first trial

Egypt’s ex-president Mohammed Morsi faces being sentenced to death on Tuesday on charges of inciting the killing of protestors in the first verdict against him nearly two years after his fall from power.
He 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 due on 16 May.
A death sentence on Tuesday against Egypt’s first freely elected president cannot be ruled out, experts say, especially since judges have already passed harsh verdicts against leaders of his blacklisted Muslim Brotherhood.

Morsi was toppled by the then army chief, and now president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on 3 July 2013 after mass street protests against his year-long rule.
The new authorities then launched a sweeping crackdown on his supporters in which more than 1 400 people were killed and thousands jailed.
Hundreds have been sentenced to death after speedy mass trials which the United Nations called “unprecedented in recent history”.