Egypt's Mursi Faces Possible Death Penalty in First Verdict

He also faces the death penalty in two other trials, including one in which he is accused of spying for foreign powers, and escaping from prison during the 2011 anti-Mubarak uprising.

Separate verdicts in those two cases are due on May 16.

A death sentence on Tuesday against Egypt's first freely elected president cannot be ruled out, experts say, especially since judges have already passed harsh verdicts against leaders of his blacklisted Muslim Brotherhood, AFP reported.

Mursi was overthrown by the then army chief and now president Abdel Fattah el-Sisi on July 3, 2013.

The new authorities then launched a sweeping crackdown on his supporters in which more than 1,400 people were killed and thousands jailed.

Hundreds have been sentenced to death after speedy mass trials which the United Nations called "unprecedented in recent history".   

The authorities have also targeted secular and liberal activists who spearheaded the 2011 uprising against Hosni Mubarak, Mursi's predecessor. 

In November, a court dropped murder charges against Mubarak in his own trial over the deaths of hundreds of protesters in 2011.

Rights groups say Sisi's regime is more repressive than under Mubarak. 

Tuesday's verdict involves a case in which Mursi and 14 other defendants, seven of whom are on the run, are charged with the killing of three protesters and torturing several more during clashes in front of the presidential palace on December 5, 2012.

The protesters were demonstrating against a Mursi decree that put him above judicial review when they clashed with his supporters.

Defence lawyers say there is no proof Mursi incited the clashes, and that most of those killed were Brotherhood members.

Even if Mursi escapes the death penalty, he could still face life in jail.

"Justice is highly politicized and verdicts are rarely based on objective elements," Karim Bitar from the Paris-based Institute of International and Strategic Relations told AFP.

Mursi's supporters were the target of a government "witch-hunt", he added.

If a death sentence is passed, it is unlikely to be carried out, said H A Hellyer of the Washington-based Brookings Centre for Middle East Policy.

"The execution of Mursi would represent an escalation by the Egyptian authorities that they do not appear willing to engage in," said Hellyer.

"Internationally, it will be received badly that an elected president overthrown via a military incursion into politics, even if that military is popular, is then dealt a harsh judicial sentence."

The verdict is also open to appeal.

A harsh sentence will nevertheless be a nail in the coffin of the Brotherhood, as Sisi has vowed to "eradicate" the 85-year-old movement that staged major electoral gains between Mubarak's fall and Mursi's presidential victory in May 2012.

Almost all of its leaders face harsh sentences, and in December 2013 the movement was designated a "terrorist group," with the authorities blaming it for near daily attacks on the security forces.