An Egyptian court on Saturday sentenced to death seven people for membership of the Islamic State (IS) group and over the beheading in Libya of 21 Christians, all but one of them from Egypt, judicial officials said.

Of the seven defendants, three were sentenced to death in absentia, the officials said. An unspecified number of those condemned were accused of having taken part in the beheadings.

Prosecutors accused the seven suspects of membership of an IS cell in Marsa Matruh, northwest Egypt, and of planning attacks after having received military training at jihadist camps in Libya and Syria.

Rulings are to be issued on November 25 against 13 others on trial in the same case.