Sudan Islamists Protest against Morsi Death Sentence

Hundreds of Sudanese Islamists protested outside a U.N. office in central Khartoum Friday against the death sentence handed down to Egypt's ousted president Mohamed Morsi by a court last week.

Morsi was among more than 100 defendants ordered by an Egyptian court on Saturday to face the death penalty for their role in a mass jailbreak during the 2011 uprising.

His rule lasted just one year before mass protests spurred then-army chief and now President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to topple him in July 2013.

Around 700 Islamists marched to the offices of the United Nations Development Program in Khartoum from the nearby Grand Mosque after prayers, an AFP reporter said.

They were joined by another group of 500 demonstrators from the mosque of the nearby University of Khartoum.

Watched over by a heavy presence from the police and security services, they chanted: "Down with military rule," "Sisi is the agent of Israel," and "Down with the tyrant's rule."

Tens of Egyptians living in Khartoum also joined the demonstration.

Some protesters burned a photograph of Sisi while others waved Egyptian flags and pictures of Morsi.

The demonstrators dispersed peacefully after around an hour and a half.

President Omar al-Bashir's Islamist government has distanced itself from the ruling, saying it is an internal matter for Egypt.

Bashir's 25-year-old regime relies on a support base that is essentially the same as the Muslim Brotherhood, although it does not use that name.

Friday's protest was organized by several Sudanese Islamist political parties and groups.

Sisi's government has outlawed the Brotherhood and launched a crackdown on its supporters that has left hundreds of Morsi's supporters dead, thousands jailed and dozens sentenced to death after mass trials.