Egypt’s top appeals court, the Court of Cassation, on Monday upheld former president Mohammed Morsi’s three-year prison sentence for insulting the judiciary.

The Cairo Criminal Court sentenced Morsi and 19 others in December for inciting hatred through TV and media comments. Morsi and other defendants appealed, but the court rejected the appeal and ordered the sentence final. Morsi’s formal conviction is for contempt of court in accordance with Article 244 of the Criminal Code. Article 184 of the Penal Code requires the conviction be met with a prison term that ranges from 24 hours to three years.

Several Muslim Brotherhood members were among the defendants and received a similar charge, which were also upheld in the Court of Cassation.

Morsi was elected president of Egypt in 2012 following the Egyptian Revolution. After only a year in power, Morsi was deposed by the military in July 2013 and criminal charges were first raised against him in September of the same year. In August 2014 the Supreme Administrative Court in Egypt banned the political wing of the Muslim Brotherhood, Morsi’s political party, from the country. An Egyptian appeals court acquitted Morsi’s former prime minister, Hisham Qandil, in July of that year. Morsi’s trial in Cairo was adjourned in February 2014 after a brief appearance in court. Following the initial charges of “incitement to murder,” Morsi was also charged with espionage and terrorism in December 2013.