Egypt imprisons dozens in 2014 Rabaa sit-in case

An Egyptian court on Tuesday sentenced dozens of people to prison in relation to the Rabaa Al-Adawiya sit-in in 2014, in which hundreds were massacred by security forces during a brutal crackdown on protesters.

The Court of Cassation province on Tuesday upheld the rulings issued by the criminal court in the province of Minya in July last year, which included three to fifteen-year prison sentences against 52 people, according to MENA news agency.

Their lawyers said that the court had rejected appeals submitted by the defendants, who were initially convicted of "violence, public vandalism and attempted murder."

The court also acquitted five others after they were handed three-year prison terms. 

The rulings were "final and irrevocable", their lawyers said.

The 2013 sit-in supported former President Mohammed Morsi who was the country's first democratically-elected president and was ousted by the military.

Egyptian security forces killed over 1,000 people at the pro-democracy sit-in at two public squares in Cairo, including Rabaa.

Hundreds more were killed in a brutal police crackdown against the pro-democracy movement in the months following 14 August massacre.

Global rights groups Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch say at least 40,000 people were arrested within the first year of Morsi's removal.