An Egyptian court on Tuesday adjourned its final verdict against leading Muslim Brotherhood members in the Hamas espionage case to 16 June, and adjourned the final verdict against Mohamed Morsi in the Natroun prison break case to the same date.
On 16 May, the court had issued a preliminary death sentence against former president Morsi and 105 other defendants in the jailbreak case, referring the sentences to the grand mufti, a senior Muslim cleric, for a consultative review as required by Egyptian law.
On Tuesday the presiding judge read a statement explaining that the court had only received the mufti's recommendations on the the initial verdicts on Tuesday morning, implying the three-judge panel required more time to study the mufti's opinion.
The mufti's recommendations regarding death sentences are not legally binding on the court.
The court also adjourned the Hamas espionage case. Last month, the court had issued preliminary death sentence to Brotherhood figures Mohamed El-Beltagy and Khairat El-Shater, along with 14 others, on charges of spying for Hamas.
The death sentences against Morsi and his co-defendants provoked condemnation from local and international rights groups, the UN, the EU and the US.
Cairo responded by arguing that criticism reflects a "lack of objectivity" as the defendants allegedly committed violent and terrorist crimes, and argued that the criticism constitutes interference in Egyptian affairs.
The May death sentence was not the first verdict issued against Morsi. He was sentenced in April to 20 years in jail for inciting violence during 2012 protests against his rule.
Jailbreak and espionage
In the Wadi Natroun jailbreak case, the prosecution charged Morsi and 130 co-defendants, many tried in absentia, with damaging and setting fire to prison buildings, murder, attempted murder, looting prison weapons depots and releasing prisoners while escaping from the prison during the January 2011 revolution.
According to the prosecution, the prisoners who escaped include members of the Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas, and Hezbollah, as well as jihadists and criminals.
Prosecutors said that over 800 fighters from Gaza had infiltrated Egypt and used rocket-propelled grenades and weapons to storm three prisons, abducting four policemen and killing several others.
In the espionage case, prosecutors have charged Morsi and 35 other defendants with conspiring with foreign powers - including Hamas, Lebanon's Hezbollah and Iran's Revolutionary Guards - to destabilise Egypt.
