Egypt's Court of Cassation, the country's highest appeals court, overturned on Wednesday death sentences for 15 defendants in the case of the storming Kerdasa police station and the murder of a police officer on 3 July 2013.

In April 2015, a Giza criminal court had sentenced the defendants to death after it convicted them of murder and attempted murder in the storming of the station in rural Giza hours after the ousting of Islamist president Mohamed morsi.

Last September, in a case also involving unrest in Kerdasa after the ouster of Morsi, a Giza criminal court confirmed death sentences for seven defendants for the murder of high-ranking police officer Nabil Farag, who was killed in September 2013 during a shootout with the ousted president's supporters in the town. This sentence can still be appealed.

Kerdasa is known to be a stronghold for supporters of the banned Muslim Brotherhood group.

The Brotherhood was officially designated a terrorist organisation by the government in December 2013 following several deadly attacks on security personnel blamed on members of the group.