Egypt Overturns Mass Death Sentence

An Egyptian court has overturned death sentences handed to 149 pro-Islamists charged with killing 11 police officers in August 2013 following the army's ousting of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi.

Following an appeal, the defendants will stand retrial before a different court.

The initial ruling in May last year came amid a series of death sentences in mass trials that were criticized internationally, as the government cracked down on supporters of Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood.

The court had also sentenced 37 people to death in absentia, but they would have to hand themselves in for a retrial.

The individuals had been found guilty of an attack on a police station near Cairo in apparent retaliation for the police's deadly dispersal of Islamist protest camps on the same day that killed hundreds of Morsi supporters.

Based on reporting by dpa and AFP