A file picture taken on June 2, 2015 shows ousted Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi gesturing from the defendants’ cage as he attends his trial at the police academy on the outskirts of the capital Cairo.

An Egyptian appeals court on Tuesday quashed one of two life sentences handed down against ousted president Mohamed Morsi since his 2013 overthrow, his lawyer and a judicial source said.

The sentences against several officials of his now outlawed Muslim Brotherhood, who stood trial alongside him on charges of spying for Iran and Palestinian militant group Hamas, were also overturned by the Court of Cassation, lawyer Abdel Moneim Abdel Maqsoud told AFP.

On November 27, the same court is to start reviewing a second life sentence handed down against Morsi in a separate trial on charges of stealing documents relating to national security and handing them over to Qatar, a longstanding supporter of the Brotherhood.

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