DHAKA: Egypt’s ousted president Mohamed Mursi, already jailed for 20 years for inciting violence against protesters, faces the death penalty on Saturday for espionage and jailbreak nearly two years after his overthrow.

The country’s first freely elected president was ousted by then army chief and now President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in July 2013 following mass street protests demanding the Islamist’s resignation after just a year in power.

His overthrow triggered a government crackdown on his Muslim Brotherhood movement in which hundreds of people have died and thousands been imprisoned.

Rights groups accuse Sisi’s regime, widely backed by Egyptians tired of years of political turmoil, of using the judiciary as a tool to repress opposition, reports The Straits Times.

BDST: 1218 HRS, MAY 16, 2015
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