Morsi in the courtroom

CAIRO  — Former Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi was sentenced to 20 years in prison without parole on Tuesday on charges arising from the killing of protesters, nearly three years after he became Egypt’s first freely elected president.

Morsi stood in a cage in court as judge Ahmed Sabry Youssef read out the ruling against him and 12 other Brotherhood members, including senior figures Mohamed el-Beltagy and Essam el-Erian. The sentencing was broadcast live on state television.

The men were convicted on charges of violence, kidnapping and torture stemming from the killing of protesters during demonstrations in 2012. They were acquitted of murder charges, which carry the death sentence.

A lawyer for some of the defendants said they would appeal.

Amnesty International described the ruling as “a travesty of justice” that “shatters any remaining illusion of independence and impartiality in Egypt’s criminal justice system”.

The rights group called for Morsi to be retried in a civilian court “in line with international standards” or released.

Leading Egyptian cleric Sheikh Youssef al-Qaradawi, who lives in pro-Brotherhood Qatar, criticized the ruling.

“The judiciary in Egypt is no longer one of the three (branches of) power. Instead, all the powers and the country itself are now run by the military,” he said in a statement.

Displaying a four-finger salute symbolizing resistance to the state’s crackdown on Islamists, defendants in a makeshift courtroom on the outskirts of Cairo chanted “God is Greatest” after the verdict was read.

The ruling is the first against Morsi, who says he is determined to reverse what he calls a military coup against him in 2013 staged by then army chief, now president, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.

Morsi’s son, Osama, said his father plans a comeback despite the jail sentence

State news agency MENA quoted a security source saying Morsi was taken by helicopter back to Borg al-Arab prison near Alexandria, where he has been held for more than a year.

Morsi faces charges in four other cases including leaking secrets to Qatar, conspiring with the Palestinian militant group Hamas to destabilize Egypt, and organizing a jailbreak during the 2011 uprising against Hosni Mubarak.

Mubarak, who was also accused of murdering protesters, was acquitted of the charges he was facing earlier this year.