CAIRO, May 16 (Aswat Masriya) - The pro-Mohamed Mursi Anti-Coup Alliance expressed on Saturday its rejection of "the concept of trying elected president ... Mursi", minutes after a court preliminarily sentenced him to death for escaping prison.

"Regardless of the nature of the measure the junta court took against the president," the banned alliance said it rejected his trial. 

The Cairo Criminal Court referred on Saturday Mursi and 105 other defendants to the Grand Mufti, to consider handing them the death sentence for escaping from the Wadi al-Natroun prison in January 2011.

The alliance described in its statement the charge as "absurd".

The defunct Freedom and Justice Party, the Muslim Brotherhood's political wing, also condemned the court's decision and described it as "void".

"Today's verdict ... leaves all options open for revolutionaries to rid the country of this gang ..." the party said in a statement.

"The ... party and its members will not stand hand-tied in front of this dangerous development. The military coup and its leaders will pay a heavy price for their crimes against the Egyptian people and their elected leadership." 

The decesion was also condemned by the Palestinian Hamas movement, Gaza's ruling body.

Hamas Spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said in a statement that the court has accused some of its members of escaping prison.

He claimed that some of the defendants in the case have died during the 2011 uprising which toppled Egypt's former president Hosni Mubarak, while others have been confined in Israeli prisons for years.

Judge Shaaban al-Shami, who presided over the case said the purpose of Hamas's claims that some of the defendants had died was to cause confusion over the verdict.

Shami additionally questioned why Hamas did not show death certificates along with the claims.   

The same court also postponed on Saturday its verdict on Mursi for espionage charges to June 2, while it preliminarily sentenced 16 defendants in the case to death.

"The leaders of the military coup should have faced the espionage charge which the military junta has levelled against Mursi," the Anti-Coup Alliance's statement read. 

The alliance called for protests on July 3, which marks the second anniversary of Mursi's ouster. 

The Anti-Coup Alliance, which includes the banned Muslim Brotherhood, has been holding protests on an almost weekly basis against the current regime since Mursi's ouster.

Mursi, who climbed to power becoming Egypt's president in June 2012, was eventually ousted after a year at the hands of the military, following mass protests against his rule.

He has since been accused of several charges and stood as defendant in various trials.

He still faces trial for insulting the judiciary, as well as a separate espionage case.

A Cairo court sentenced Mursi last month to 20 years of maximum security prison for charges of show of force and detention associated with physical torture during deadly protests in 2012. He was nevertheless acquitted of murder charges.