El-Shater was arrested on 5 July 2013, following the military coup d'état which unseated the Brotherhood-led government and President Mohamed Morsi. On 14 July 2013 Egypt's military-installed prosecutor general Hisham Barakat ordered his assets to be frozen. On 29 October 2013, a three-judge panel at Cairo Criminal Court stepped down from the proceedings, citing "uneasiness" over the trial. On 11 December 2013, a second panel of judges withdrew from the trial. On 28 February 2015, he was sentenced to life in prison. On 16 May 2015, another court issued a preliminary death sentence against him in a separate case. Both verdicts can be appealed.