Court sentences Egypt’s ousted president to death

In this May 8, 2014 file photo, Egypt’s ousted Islamist President Mohammed Morsi sits in a defendant cage in the Police Academy courthouse in Cairo, Egypt. AP

CAIRO— An Egyptian court has sentenced ousted President Mohammed Morsi to death.

The verdict was announced Saturday in Cairo.

As is customary in passing capital punishment, Judge Shaaban el-Shami referred his death sentence on Morsi and more than 20 others to the nation’s top Muslim theologian, or mufti, for his non-binding opinion.

Morsi, Egypt’s first freely elected president, was ousted by the military in July 2013 following days of mass street protests by Egyptians demanding that he be removed because of his divisive policies.

The ousted leader already is serving a 20-year sentence following his conviction on April 21 on charges linked to the killing of protesters outside a Cairo presidential palace in December 2012.