An Egyptian criminal court sentenced 26 people to death on Wednesday for plotting attacks on ships passing through the Suez Canal.

An Egyptian criminal court sentenced 26 people to death on Wednesday for plotting attacks on ships passing through the Suez Canal, judicial source said.

"They were charged for founding and leading a "terror group" that aimed to target ships in the Suez canal," the source stated.

The court referred the verdict to the mufti, a top Islamic official who under Egyptian law has to validate the sentence, and set March 19 for the final verdict.

The defendants were tried in absentia.