The defense lawyer for Egypt's first democratically-elected president, Mohamed Morsi, has appealed a 20-year prison term handed down to the former strongman on charges of involvement in the arrests and torture of protesters during his rule.

"We had to appeal before the time available to do so expired," Abdel Moneim Abdel Maqsud said on Thursday, adding that he had submitted the request "in his capacity as legal representative of Morsi.”

Abdel Maqsud said he had not been able to consult his client in advance but noted that Morsi "refuses to appeal," as he considers himself still to be president and rejects the legitimacy of his judges.

On April 21, a Cairo court sentenced Morsi and 12 other defendants, among them senior officials in the Muslim Brotherhood, to 20 years in jail for inciting violence, which led to the death of at least 10 people in clashes outside the Ittihadiya presidential palace in December 2012.

On Tuesday, a court upheld a death sentence against Morsi over a mass jailbreak and attacks on police during the 2011 popular uprising against former dictator, Hosni Mubarak.

The same Egyptian court sentenced Morsi to life in prison on charges related to involvement in espionage activities. 

The United Nations and many countries have condemned the death ruling.

Turkey's Foreign Ministry said in a statement that Morsi was exposed to a decision, which is "arbitrary, far from international standards and unlawful."

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan also called Morsi's death sentence a "massacre of law and basic rights."

"We call on the international community to act to withdraw these death sentences, given under the instructions of the coup regime, and to put an end to this path which could seriously endanger the peace of Egyptian society," Erdogan said in a statement. 

The White House has also dismissed the court ruling as politically tainted.

Morsi was toppled in a July 2013 military coup led by Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, the current president and the then head of the armed forces. Sisi has resorted to a heavy-handed crackdown on Morsi's supporters. Hundreds of people have been killed and more than 40,000 others are being kept in custody, according to Human Rights Watch.

Hundreds of people have been also condemned to death in speedy mass trials described by the United Nations as "unprecedented in recent history."

MP/MHB/SS