An Egyptian court sentenced 23 people to 14 years of maximum security prison and acquitted eight on Saturday over the killings of four Muslims in 2013.

An Egyptian court sentenced 23 people to 14 years of maximum security prison and acquitted eight on Saturday over the killings of four Muslims in 2013.

Of the 23 sentenced to prison, nine are in custody, while the remaining 14 were sentenced in absentia.

In June 2013, leading figure Sheikh Hassan Shehata was killed alongside three others when a crowd of people attacked a religious gathering in a Giza village.

In August 2014,  Egypt's top prosecutor referred 31 suspects to criminal court over the killing of the four.

The 31 defendants were accused of murder, attempted murder, torching, illegal assembly, vandalism and possession of unlicensed weapons.