CAIRO -- An Egyptian court on Tuesday confirmed the death sentence of ousted Islamist President Mohammed Morsi over a mass prison break during the country's 2011 uprising, making him the first leader in Egypt's modern history to potentially face execution.
Courts have handed out hundreds of similar sentences against Islamists in mass trials since Morsi's 2013 overthrow and a crackdown on dissent.
The ruling, which will be automatically reviewed by Egypt's highest appeals court, brought no immediate outcry on the streets.
It is not clear whether Morsi will be executed. Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, who led the military's ouster of Morsi, repeatedly has defended the independence of the judiciary, though its rulings have faced international criticism.
Morsi, who served a year as Egypt's first freely elected president, appeared in court Tuesday in a blue prison uniform, enclosed in a cage separate from other defendants. He listened to the verdict with a slight smile but said nothing.
Judge Shaaban al-Shami, who led a panel of three judges, issued the ruling after he consulted with Egypt's Mufti, a religious authority affiliated with the judiciary. The Mufti's opinion must be sought in all capital punishment cases. Al-Shami had sentenced Morsi to death in May.
"The court panel has unanimously agreed that there is no room for leniency or mercy for the defendants," al-Shami said. He said the Mufti sanctioned the death sentences under crimes of "haraba," an Islamic term for banditry, bloodshed and waging war on God and society.
The judge also confirmed death sentences for five imprisoned members of Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood, including Mohammed Badie, the group's leader, and Saad el-Katatni, the head of its short-lived political party. Another 21 imprisoned defendants received life sentences, which in Egypt is equivalent to 25 years in prison.
Another 93 defendants tried in absentia, including Egyptian-born cleric Youssef al-Qaradawi, were sentenced to death, though they will be automatically retried if they are taken into custody. The defendants include 70 Palestinians, at least two of whom were killed in Israeli airstrikes in Gaza.
Defendants were found guilty of conspiring and attempting to kill police officers in the mass breakout targeting three Egyptian prisons, enabling about 20,000 inmates to flee, causing chaos and breaching Egypt's borders with the Gaza Strip. This was done with the help of the Palestinian Hamas militant group, Lebanon's Hezbollah and Sinai extremists, al-Shami said.
The breakout freed Morsi, who had been arrested soon after the 2011 protests started. He later rode on the Brotherhood's popularity among conservatives and Islamists to become the country's president in 2012. Morsi is already serving a 20-year sentence for his part in the 2012 killings of protesters outside his palace while he was president.
Tuesday's verdict drew immediate international condemnation. United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon expressed concern over verdicts he said "may well have a negative impact on the prospects for long-term stability in Egypt," U.N. deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said.
White House spokesman Josh Earnest said the U.S., a major provider of military assistance to Egypt, was "deeply troubled" by the verdict.
The Geneva-based International Commission of Jurists called on Egyptian authorities to end the imposition of mass death sentences in "grossly unfair" trials.
Earlier Tuesday, al-Shami sentenced Morsi to life in prison over charges of conspiring with foreign groups, including Hamas. That sentence also can be appealed.
Al-Shami confirmed death sentences against 16 others, including three jailed Brotherhood members. The other 13 were tried in absentia, including Sondos Asem, a Morsi aide, and the only woman to receive the death sentence in the slew of trials since 2013.
Morsi's supporters called the ruling the "nail in the coffin for democracy in Egypt."
"This cannot be ignored any longer," said Amr Darrag, a former minister under Morsi who is now in exile. "We call the international community to realize how grossly wrong it is to support such a bloody regime."
Egyptian rights lawyer Nasser Amin, a member of the state-sanctioned National Council for Human Rights, said he expected Morsi's appeals to last a couple of years before a final verdict is issued. Amin lamented the mass death sentences issued in recent months, which by some estimates number 1,500. In 2010, there were no more than 93 death sentences issued, all in criminal cases, he said.
"The recent verdicts have greatly harmed Egypt's established and stable judiciary," Amin said.
Information for this article was contributed by Suzan Frazer, Ayse Wieting, Darlene Superville and Edith M. Lederer of The Associated Press.
A Section on 06/17/2015