Cairo Criminal Court sentenced on Tuesday 16 defendants to 10 years in maximum security prison for attempting to storm Waily police station last September.

The convicts were charged with rioting, belonging to a group formed contrary to the regulations of the law and constitution, and resisting authorities.

 The events took place following the dispersal of a pro-Morsi vigil in mid August 2013.

Morsi's supporters ransacked a number of police stations and staged protests nationwide to denounce the vigil's dispersal which left hundreds dead.

Thousands of Muslim Brotherhood members, leaders and sympathisers have been put behind bars since the ouster of the Islamist president on 3 July.