Egyptian Courts Overturn Morsi Death and Life Sentences

It’s been a good week in the courtroom for former Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi. First, a court overturned the death sentence in one case and on Tuesday, in a second case, a life sentence was overturned. The immediate impact is that the Muslim Brotherhood leader is no longer facing the gallows. In the latter instance, Morsi was one of 22 defendants including high-ranking Brotherhood officials convicted of spying for the Hamas terrorist organization. Following the overthrow of long-time president Hosni Mubarak in 2011, Morsi was elected president in what most consider to have been a democratic election. But by mid-2013, he, too, was overthrown by then-General Abdel-Fatteh Al-Sissi, who later became president. Sissi has been unrelenting against the Muslim Brotherhood, killing hundreds and jailing thousands. Nevertheless, the actions by the Court of Cassation appears to justify President Al-Sissi’s claims that he has kept the judiciary independent: a rare bright spot on a human rights record most Western governments find “troubling.”