(VOVworld) - The Cairo Criminal Court issued preliminary death sentences against Morsi and 105 other defendants in the case publicly known as the “Wadi al-Natron jailbreak.”

Mohammed Morsi (Photo: Reuters)

The verdict was referred to the Grand Mufti, the country’s highest Islamic official whose opinion is usually considered a formality. The final verdict, which still can be appealed, will be issued on June 2.

Morsi is accused of escaping prison with the assistance of domestic and foreign militants during the January 25 uprising that ousted Hosni Mubarak in 2011. Some 130 other defendants affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood, Palestinian Hamas movement and the Lebanese Shiite Hezbollah group face trial in the same case. They are accused of breaking into prisons, and kidnapping and killing of police officers.