Mohammed Morsi

The ousted leader asked to speak in court, according to the public prosecutor. After speaking, Morsi reportedly fell to the ground and died before he arrived at the hospital.

The rulings in Cairo confirm sentences against the ousted leader that were handed down this spring. NPR's Leila Fadel says "the cases have been criticized as show trials with fantastical accusations."

The former president who was ousted in 2013 had already been sentenced to 20 years in prison on other charges. The country's highest religious authority will still review the penalty.

Less than two years after he was removed from office by the military, Mohammed Morsi was sentenced by an Egyptian court for the arrest and torture of protesters.

Mohamed Soltan, 27, was among 36 defendants sentenced to life in prison. Fourteen others, including the leader of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood, received death sentences.

Those convicted were accused of attacking a police station, and killing and mutilating at least 11 security officers. But critics of the verdict say many of those arrested were not even at the scene.