Ex-Egyptian President Morsi gets 20 years in prison

Egypt’s ousted Islamist president, Mohammed Morsi, was convicted of using force against protesters and sentenced to 20 years in prison on Tuesday, the first verdict against him since he was removed by the military nearly two years ago.

The case was the latest in a series of mass trials on a range of charges against Morsi and other members of his Muslim Brotherhood, which Egypt’s government has vowed to crush, branding it a terrorist organization. Amnesty International denounced Morsi’s trial as a “sham.”

The Brotherhood went from decades as an underground organization to vault to power after Egypt’s 2011 popular uprising toppled longtime autocrat Hosni Mubarak. The Brotherhood was the biggest winner in subsequent parliament elections, and Morsi — running as its candidate — became Egypt’s first freely elected president in 2012.

But a year later, millions protested against Morsi’s divisive rule, and then-army chief Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi led the military’s July 2013 removal of Morsi.

Most of the Brotherhood’s top leadership already have received heavy prison sentences in other trials, as well as hundreds of death sentences laid down for senior figures and lower -evel supporters over acts of violence carried out during protests against Morsi’s ouster.

At the same time, Mubarak and members of his inner circle have largely been acquitted of charges related to the killing of protesters during the uprising against his rule. Charges against Mubarak over the killings were dropped earlier this year.