The Turkish Association of Sunni Scholars has condemned an Egyptian court's decision to impose the death penalty on Egypt's first elected president, Mohammed Morsi.

"The Islamic world is faced with large and public attacks for the first time," the association said Friday. "The [court's] decision to impose the death penalty on 122 Muslims in Egypt aims to quell further demands of justice and freedom for the Egyptian people."

It also called on the Muslim world, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and world leaders to defend the rights of Egyptians and protest against the verdict.

Last Saturday, an Egyptian court had referred 122 out 166 defendants, including Morsi, to the grand mufti to consider possible death sentences for them over charges of jailbreak and espionage.

Cairo said last Sunday it rejected all "inappropriate comments" regarding the country's court rulings, labeling them an unacceptable interference in Egypt's internal affairs.

Most death sentences handed down by Egyptian courts are commuted into prison terms.

Last year, hundreds of Egyptians were sentenced to death, but rulings on only a few dozen were actually upheld and the rest were converted into 25-year prison sentences.

The U.S. and the United Nations both expressed concern over the decision last Sunday. Last month, Morsi and 12 co-defendants were each sentenced to 20 years in prison for allegedly mobilizing supporters to "intimidate, detain and torture" dozens of anti-Morsi protesters during clashes outside of eastern Cairo's Ittihadiya presidential palace in December 2012.

Morsi currently faces multiple criminal trials on charges that include espionage and "insulting the judiciary," charges he says are politically motivated.

Since Morsi's ousting, Egyptian security forces have launched a relentless crackdown on dissent that has targeted both Islamists and secularists, leaving hundreds dead and thousands behind bars.