Egypt postpones final ruling on Morsi death sentence

An Egyptian court Tuesday postponed its final ruling on ousted president Mohamed Morsi, who was sentenced to death along with dozens more over a mass jailbreak during the 2011 uprising. The court said that, on June 16, it would also announce its verdict against Morsi and 18 other defendants in a separate case of espionage. On May 16, Morsi and more than 100 others were sentenced to death for plotting jailbreaks and attacks on police during the uprising more than four years ago that overthrew president Hosni Mubarak.
The sentence was referred to the mufti, the government interpreter of Islamic law who plays an advisory role, and a final ruling had been scheduled for Tuesday. The mufti's advice is never made public. Judge Shabaan el-Shamy said the final ruling in the jailbreak case will now come on June 16, "as the court has to complete its deliberations on the opinion of the mufti which was received only this morning."