CAIRO: An Egyptian court upheld Tuesday a death sentence against ousted Islamist president Mohammad Morsi for plotting jailbreaks and attacks on police during the 2011 uprising.

The court had initially sentenced Morsi and more than 100 other defendants to death last month.

Tuesday's ruling comes after the court consulted Egypt's grand mufti, the government interpreter of Islamic law who plays an advisory role.

The court-appointed lawyer for former Morsi told Reuters he would appeal against the death sentence. 

Earlier Tuesday, the same court sentenced Morsi, the country's first democratically elected president, to life in prison on charges of spying for the Palestinian Hamas movement, Hezbollah and Iran.

Then army chief and now President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi ousted Morsi on July 3, 2013, and since then has overseen a sweeping crackdown against his supporters.

The crackdown has left hundreds of Islamists dead and thousands jailed.

Hundreds have been sentenced to death after speedy mass trials described by the United Nations as "unprecedented in recent history."

In the jailbreak trial, exiled Egyptian-born cleric Yusuf al-Qaradawi, who commands huge influence through his appearances on Al-Jazeera television from his base in Qatar, was also condemned to death in absentia.