Former Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi. Photo: Wilson Dias/ABr via Wikimedia Commons.

JNS.org – The United States condemned the death sentence handed down over the weekend to former Egyptian president and Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohammed Morsi.

In a statement, the U.S. State Department said the sentence is “unjust and undermines confidence in the rule of law.” On May 16, an Egyptian court gave Morsi the death penalty for his part in a mass prison break during the uprising against former president Hosni Mubarak in January 2011. More than 100 other people were sentenced to death in the case.

Under Egyptian law, the death sentence is not final until it is reviewed by Egypt’s Grand Mufti for his non-binding opinion. The mufti’s decision on this verdict is scheduled for June 2.

Morsi was already serving a 20-year sentence for an April 21 conviction over the role he played in the deaths of protesters outside his presidential palace in December 2012.