EGYPT: APPEALS COURT QUASHES MORSI LIFE SENTENCE OVER HAMAS ESPIONAGE

An Egyptian appeals court quashed one of two life sentences handed down against ousted Islamist president Mohammed Morsi since his 2013 overthrow, his lawyer and a judicial source said.
The Court of Cassation overturned sentences against the former leader and several Muslim Brotherhood officials who stood trial alongside him on charges of spying for Iran and Palestinian terror group Hamas, lawyer Abdel Moneim Abdel Maqsoud told AFP.
The court ordered a retrial, Abdel Maqsoud said, adding: “The verdict was full of legal flaws.”
The ruling is the second appeals victory in a week for Morsi, whose Muslim Brotherhood movement has been blacklisted and subjected to a crackdown that has killed hundreds of his supporters and seen thousands jailed or sentenced to death.
Last week, the same court overturned a death sentence handed down against him on charges of taking part in prison breaks and violence against policemen during a 2011 uprising that toppled longtime strongman Hosni Mubarak.
Starting on November 28, the same court will begin to review a second life sentence handed down against Morsi in a separate trial on charges of stealing documents relating to national security and handing them over to Qatar, a longstanding supporter of the Brotherhood.
Last month, it upheld a 20-year jail sentence handed down against Morsi on charges of ordering the use of deadly force against protesters during his year in power.