Johannesburg – Cairo Criminal Court has sentenced 20 people to death for their involvement in violent clashes in the Kerdasa suburb of Cairo in August 2013.
Fifty militants stormed the Kerdasa police station, killing 14 officers.
The storming of the police station was in response to Egyptian security forces launching a violent crackdown and massacre on two protest camps in Cairo where hundreds of supporters of ousted Egyptian President Muhammad Morsi were killed.
During the siege on the police station, some of the policemen were allegedly tortured to death and their bodies mutilated.
The attackers later moved to the town's only church, chased out the people praying inside, torched it and later painted "we will show you rage and we will make you see terrorism" on one of the building's charred walls.
During Monday's session, a total of 156 defendants were facing retrial over charges of storming the district's police station, murdering 14 officers and mutilating their bodies, Egypt's Daily News reported on Monday.
The Cassation Court granted the defendants a retrial after mass death sentences were issued in 2014 and 2015 against the defendants.
The death sentences have been referred to Egypt's Grand Mufti for consultation as is mandatory under Egyptian law.
He will have the final say on whether the penalties are carried out in the North African country.