Egypt's top appeals court, the Court of Cassation, upheld on Thursday the life sentences for the leader of the banned Muslim Brotherhood group Mohamed Badie and his deputy Khairat El-Shater and four others over violence ahead of the ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in 2013.

The Brotherhood figureheads were sentenced to life by a lower criminal court in December 2018, in one of a series of trials against Badie and other Brotherhood leaders.

The court on Thursday rejected their appeal and upheld the sentences. The rulings are final and cannot be appealed.

The defendants were convicted of inciting violence against protesters in front of the Brotherhood headquarters, joining an illegal organisation, carrying out terrorist operations, the possession of firearms, and disturbing public peace.

The convictions stem from clashes in front of the Brotherhood's headquarters in Cairo on 30 June 2013 between anti-Brotherhood demonstrators calling for the Islamist president to step down and the group's supporters. 

The clashes left nine protesters dead and dozens injured. Morsi was ousted on 3 July amid mass protests against his rule.

Thursday's sentence is the fourth final life sentence handed to Badie, totalling 100 years, a judicial source said.

The verdict is the first final ruling against El-Shater, who had been handed a total of another 40 years in jail that can still be appealed.