An Egyptian court on Saturday sentenced ousted president Mohammed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood to 25 years in prison, the final ruling in a case where he was accused of spying for Qatar.
Morsi, democratically elected president after Egypt’s 2011 revolution, was overthrown in mid-2013 by the then-general Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, now the president, following mass protests against his rule.
Following his ouster, Morsi was immediately arrested and kept in detention.
The North African country’s court of Cassation reduced Morsi’s sentence in the Qatar case from an initial 40 years to 25 years in the final ruling.
The former president is already serving a 20-year sentence after being convicted for the killing of protesters during demonstrations in 2012.
In 2014, Egypt charged Morsi and nine others with endangering national security by leaking state secrets and sensitive documents to Qatar.
The country’s relations with Doha were already troubled by Qatar’s backing of Morsi.
Egypt is one of four Arab nations in a Saudi-led bloc that cut relations with the Gulf state on June 5, accusing it of backing militant groups and cooperating with their arch-foe Iran, allegations Doha denies.
