Cairo: An Egyptian court on Sunday convicted 76 people on charges of storming the Israeli embassy in Cairo last year.
Seventy-five of the defendants received suspended one- year sentences, while one defendant tried in absentia was given a five-year prison term.
The charges against them include "an assault against diplomatic missions" and "sabotage."
On September 9, 2011, thousands of furious protesters stormed the Israeli mission in Cairo following the killing of six Egyptian soldiers by Israeli forces who were pursuing Palestinian militants near the Egyptian border.
The attack prompted nearly the entire embassy staff to evacuate in the one of the worst crises to hit the two countries` relations since their 1979 peace treaty.
Meanwhile, in a separate development, an Egyptian was killed in the Sinai Peninsula this morning after shell was fired from an unknown source, state TV reported.
News site Masrawy was quick to report that the source of the shell was an Israeli reconnaissance plane. So far Israeli sources have denied that the shell was fired from their side.
It is worth mentioning that the Egyptian army has launched a campaign against militants in Sinai following the attack by Islamist gunmen on a checkpoint that left 16 border guards dead earlier this month.
PTI
