After one year of military conscription, he continued his studies, specialising in microbiology and taking his master's degree in 1979.

After four more years of study at the Minya University, concurrently with the work as an assistant lecturer, he was conferred a doctorate in microbiology (physiological plant pathology).

[6] On 22 January 2012, he resigned as FJP secretary to become elected as the Speaker of the People's Assembly of Egypt the next day.

[1] After he was selected as the FJP's party's chairman, Katatni expressed his desire to implement Islamic Sharia law in Egypt, saying that the FJP was established by the Muslim Brotherhood in order to represent the Brotherhood's "political project, which, in the end, will be a wise government that will institute Islamic Shari’a law."

[10] On 29 October 2013, a three-judge panel at Cairo Criminal Court stepped down from the proceedings, citing "uneasiness" over the trial.