Egypt's highest appellate court yesterday annulled a decision to place more than 1,500 people on the country's official terrorist list, including former president Mohammed Morsi. The Court of Cassation accepted appeals by Morsi and 1,537 other defendants against putting their names on the terrorist list, a judicial source said on condition of anonymity due to restrictions on speaking to media.

Prominent Egyptian football player Mohammed Abu Treika was among those placed on the list. Egyptian authorities accuse the defendants of having links with the Muslim Brotherhood group, which the military-backed authorities declared a terrorist organization in 2013.

Egypt's first-ever freely elected president, Morsi, was ousted and imprisoned by the Egyptian military during a military coup carried out in mid-2013. Morsi has been serving out three lengthy jail terms for allegedly "killing protesters" and "spying" for Qatar. He has also faced charges of "insulting Egypt's judiciary." Like his co-defendants, Morsi maintains that all the charges against him are politically motivated.