Egypt's Court of Cassation upheld on Sunday death sentences against nine defendants convicted of involvement in the assassination of prosecutor-general Hisham Barakat in 2015.

Six other defendants in the case had their sentences commuted from death to life in prison.

The court also reduced the sentences of four other defendants from life in prison to 15 years, and one defendant’s sentence was reduced from life in prison to three years.

The court also reduced one defendant’s sentence from life in prison to one year for the illegal possession of firearms, and he was acquitted of all other charges.

The court also acquitted five defendants that had originally been sentenced to 10 years in prison.

In July 2017, a Cairo criminal court sentenced 28 defendants to death for assassinating prosecutor-general Barakat. The court also sentenced 15 defendants to life in prison sentence, eight defendants to 15 years, and 15 defendants to 10 years.  

The defendants were charged with murder, conspiracy to commit murder, the possession of unlicensed firearms and ammunition, and the possession of explosives devices.