An Egyptian court on Saturday sentenced seven Islamists to death over charges of killing a police general in a firefight on the outskirts of Cairo in 2013, official MENA news agency reported.

Another five defendants were sentenced to five years in prison in the same case, the report said.

The defendants were accused of storming a police station, killing the chief, Nabil Farag, and wounding nine other policemen in Kerdasa on Aug. 14, 2013.

The police station was attacked with rocket-propelled grenades and then torched.

In Aug. 2014, a lower court confirmed the death sentences on the 12 defendants on charges of killing Farag.

The Court of Cassation ordered a retrial of seven of the defendants last year.

The defendants were further accused of funding and administering terrorist attacks, assaulting the private life of citizens, harming the national unity and social peace, targeting public institutions and disturbing public order.

Source : XINHUA