CAIRO: An Egyptian court sentenced 68 people to up to 15 years in prison on Tuesday over protest clashes, in the latest mass sentencing of supporters of ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi.

They were accused of taking part in street violence in October 2013 in which more than 50 demonstrators were shot dead in Cairo during clashes with police.

The Cairo court handed down 15 year sentences to 63 defendants and 10 years to five others, judicial sources and state media said.

Police have cracked down harshly on supporters of Morsi since his ouster by the military in July 2013, killing hundreds in clashes and arresting thousands. Dozens of policemen have also died.

Courts have sentenced hundreds of protesters to death or prison.

In another trial on Tuesday, a Cairo court sentenced nine activists to two years for taking part in an unauthorised gathering at which they called for a ban on demonstrations to be repealed, a judicial source said.

Three of them were from the April 6 movement that spearheaded the 2011 revolt that toppled strongman Hosni Mubarak, and the rest were “independent” activists, an official in the movement, Amr Ali, said.

Published in Dawn, October 1st , 2014