Morsi added to terrorist blacklist

Morsi added to terrorist blacklist
Former Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi has been added to a list of terrorists in the country.
2 min read
05 July, 2016
Egyptian authorities have added Morsi to a list of terrorists [Getty]
An Egyptian court has ruled to include Mohamed Morsi - the former president of Egypt who was ousted in a 2013 military coup - in a terrorist list.

Cairo Criminal Court ruled to include the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood on the state's list of terrorist entities.

Morsi was one of 35 individuals who had been placed on the list for a period of three years.

The individuals had been convicted earlier of "collaborating" with Palestinian movement Hamas, which is ideologically close to the Muslim Brotherhood.

However, according to Ismail Abu Baraka, a lawyer for a number of the accused, an appeal against the convictions had since been lodged with Egypt's Court of Cassation, the country's highest appeals court.

Abu Baraka went on to note that the court ruling calling for Morsi's inclusion on the "terrorist" list had originally been issued in April "but defence lawyers had not been informed and did not attend the court session."

Egypt's first democratically elected president, Morsi was ousted by the military in a 2013 military coup after serving only one year in office.

He has since been slapped with multiple death and prison sentences for "conspiring against Egypt," spying for Qatar, "insulting" the judiciary and breaking out of jail during a 2011 popular uprising.

Morsi and his co-defendants, along with a number of independent observers, say the charges against him are politically motivated.

Millions took to the streets of Cairo and other cities on 30 June, 2013, to call for the removal of Morsi.

Sisi gave Morsi a 48-hour ultimatum to respond to "the people's demands" before ordering the military to overthrow and detain him.

His decision to order the removal of Morsi unleashed protests by the president's supporters, and in turn, a crackdown in which hundreds of demonstrators were killed.

Sisi was elected president a year later with minimal opposition.

But many of his backers at the time now say the authorities' crackdown against the Muslim Brotherhood has expanded to include any kind of dissent or opposition.

Since Morsi's overthrow, thousands of protesters have been killed in clashes, including more than 600 killed in a single day on August 14, when police dispersed a Cairo protest camp demanding Morsi's reinstatement.