Heba Sinha, an Egyptian lawyer and former presidential candidate, said the verdicts “sends a message to Egyptian citizens that Egyptians remain a target of discrimination and violence”. “It’s a direct insult to women and girls who still need safe spaces to go about their lives,” Ms Sinha said. “The verdicts that were read today by the high Egyptian court do not respect these rights.” The verdicts come in the aftermath of a trial in which the former president’s former bodyguards, Abdel Ghani al-Hadi and Ali Mokhtar, were convicted on charges of insulting Ms Morsi. The verdicts will be final. Mr Morsi resigned this week after two other former aides were also found guilty of insulting the president after an uprising against his rule began in December 2013. “That’s the truth: this is just the beginning,” said Mr Zaki Abdel Hamid, from the Centre for Constitutional Rights in Cairo, who is representing Ms Mokhtar. “We are looking at all these cases together and not just at the former president or top government ministers.” He added: “We will continue to defend the rights of Egyptians to express themselves.” The verdicts also include charges against the Muslim Brotherhood, which Mr Morsi founded but left behind at the height of the uprising. The Brotherhood is banned from politics by Egypt’s first post-revolutionary constitution. ‘The message of the verdicts is that I should be killed’ – Ahmed el-Badani

Crowds gathered outside the high court building in Cairo where a panel of three judges had heard the case against Abdel Ghani al-Hadi and Ali Mokhtar

‘Brazen and shameless’ The High Court of Justiciary has found the former two defendants guilty of insulting and insulting the President of the State and is also recommending against trial against the head of the Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party, Ahmed el-Badani. The verdicts will be final. Egypt’s main opposition, the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), said: “If his crimes are proven, this verdict sends a very dangerous message to Egyptian citizens.”

‘The message of the verdicts is that I should be killed’ The verdicts follow a trial in which the former two defendants were found guilty of insulting and insulting the President of the State and is also recommended against trial against the head of the Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party, Ahmed el-Badani. The verdicts will be final. Egypt’s main opposition