Cairo: An Egyptian court postponed issuing a final ruling over a death sentence recommendation for former Islamist President Mohamed Morsi and other top Muslim Brotherhood leaders in a case related to a 2011 jail break.

The judge said the case was postponed to 16 June.

Morsi, Egypt’s first freely elected president, and more than 100 other defendants were sentenced to death by a court on 16 May for their role in a mass prison break during the 2011 uprising.

The sentence was criticised by human rights groups, the United States and the European Union, as well as Pakistan.

Morsi was ousted by then-army chief and now President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in July 2013 after mass street protests against his one-year rule.

A government crackdown overseen by Sisi has left hundreds of Morsi supporters dead, thousands imprisoned and dozens sentenced to death after speedy trials, described by the United Nations as ‘unprecedented in recent history’.

Morsi has also been sentenced to 20 years in jail in a separate trial.