Twenty-five people were sentenced to life in prison by an Assuit court on Thursday on charges related to violence that erupted in the Upper Egyptian city after last summer's ouster of president Mohamed Morsi.
Life in Prison in Egypt carries a sentence of 25 years in jail.
Three others received three-year prison sentences, one person got a year in jail and 143 others were acquitted. The defendants were accused of joining the Muslim Brotherhood, declared a terrorist organisation after Morsi's ouster, and storming Al-Ghanayem police station and damaging public and state institutions. The violence in Assuit was part of nationwide unrest following the forcible dispersal of two pro-Morsi sit-ins in Cairo that left hundreds dead. The defendants have the right to appeal the sentences and demand a retrial. In late September, a Cairo court acquitted 112 people on charges of violating the country's protest law during this year's demonstrations to mark the third anniversary of the 25 January 2011 uprising. The law, issued in November 2013, is deemed too restrictive by activists who demand its amendment.
