Egypt's Court of Cassation upheld on Saturday a five-year prison sentence former presidential candidate Hazem Salah Abu Ismail is serving for organising a violent rally at a Cairo court in 2012.

The court also upheld the five-year terms of five other defendants convicted in the case, rejecting the appeal presented by them and the Salafist leader.

In 2017, a Cairo court sentenced Abu Ismail and others to prison terms following convictions for inciting the besieging of a Nasr City court in December 2012, the use of violence against prosecutors, and preventing state employees from carrying out their duties.

The events took place when Abu Ismail, a popular figure among Salafists, marshalled his supporters to surround a court where some of his followers were being tried.

He is currently serving a seven-year term, which was upheld in 2014, for forging the documents he submitted to run as a candidate in the 2012 presidential elections.

The once-popular TV preacher and prominent supporter of the now-banned Muslim Brotherhood was convicted of forging documents to conceal his late mother's US citizenship, an action that led to him being disqualified from the race.

He has also been given two separate one-year jail terms for insulting the judiciary and contempt of court, offences which occurred during his trials.

Authorities arrested Abu Ismail days after the ouster of Egypt's Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in July 2013.