An Egypt Court Has Sentenced 230 People to Life in Prison

A court in Egypt has sentenced 230 people to life in prison over for their role in the protests that toppled former President Hosni Mubarak in 2011. Among the defendants was the prominent liberal activist Ahmed Douma, already imprisoned for a violation of Egypt's new public order law.

Douma was also fined $2.2m (£1.4) for setting fire to a science academy housing rare manuscripts. All sentences relate to the 2011 uprising and can be appealed against.

Wednesday's ruling brought the heaviest sentence yet against the secular activists who led the mass protests four years ago, the BBC's Orla Guerin says.

Douma was a leading figure in the revolution that forced former President Hosni Mubarak to step down. He was a symbol of the revolution and has become a symbol of the repression that followed it, our correspondent reports.

The verdicts against Douma and the other defendants were handed down by Jugde Mohammed Nagy Shehata, the same judge who jailed the Al Jazeera journalists and sentenced 183 suspected Islamists to death on Monday.

Douma reacted to his life sentence with an ironic round of applause. In response the judge said: "Are you in Tahrir Square? Don't talk too much or I'll give you three more years."

Along with fellow activists Ahmed Maher and Mohamed Adel, Douma is already serving a three-year prison sentence for staging protests without a permit.

In January an Egyptian court overturned the convictions for embezzlement of former President Hosni Mubarak and his two sons and ordered a retrial.

It was the last remaining case keeping Mr Mubarak behind bars. The 86-year-old has been in detention since April 2011. (BBC)