Thousands of Israeli Arabs marched in northern Israel on Saturday to protest the sentencing to death of Mohammed Morsi, the ousted president of Egypt, by an Egyptian court earlier in May.

Some 5,000 protesters came to the village of Kafr Kana, organizers said, hoisting signs reading "cut the rope of penalty" and chanting "We won't rest till the murderer Sissi is executed," AFP reported.

The protest was organized by the northern branch of the Islamist Movemet, whose leader, Sheikh Raed Salah, led the protesters in a march through the village.

Morsi and his Muslim Brotherhood group swiftly rose to power in Egypt in elections after autocrat Hosni Mubarak's ouster, only to find themselves behind bars a year later when millions protested against them for abusing power and the military, led by Abdel-Fattah al-Sissi, overthrew the government.

But as Mubarak and members of his government increasingly find themselves acquitted of criminal charges, Morsi and the Brotherhood are at the receiving end of heavy-handed sentences.

Morsi was sentenced by a Cairo court to death on charges of breaking out of prison during Egypt’s uprising in 2011, as well as for passing along state secrets.

The case, like any capital sentence, will be referred to Egypt's top religious authority, the Grand Mufti, for any opinion before any executions can take place.

Morsi's death sentence was received by criticism by, among others, the United States, Turkey and the militant group Hamas, an offshoot of the international Muslim Brotherhood movement.