Cairo: An Egyptian court on Wednesday sentenced 230 protesters to life on charges of violence and sabotage, the latest in a series of mass sentences in the country.

The convicts include Ahmad Douma, a leading participant in the 2011 revolt that forced long-standing president Hosni Mubarak to resign.

The Cairo Criminal Court also sentenced 30 other defendants to 10 years in prison in the same case connected to pitched street fighting that broke out between anti-government protesters and security troops near iconic Tahrir Square in central Cairo in December 2011 — 11 months after Mubarak’s removal.

The clashes, which raged for almost a week, led to 17 deaths and the burning of several buildings, including a library housing rare books.

The court ordered the convicted defendants to pay 17 million Egyptian pounds (about Dh8.5 million) worth of fine to repair the buildings damaged in the violence.

On hearing the ruling against him, Douma clapped his hands in defiance, a gesture that drew him a warning from presiding judge Mohammad Najui.

Except for Douma, all other defendants were tried in absentia, according to legal sources.

Douma is serving three years in prison in another case after found guilty of violating a disputed law heavily restricting street protests.

Douma’s defence lawyer, Osama Al Mahdi, said he would appeal yesterday’s sentencing.

“We had expected the defendants to be convicted, but we had not expected these harsh sentences,” Al Mahdi told independent online newspaper Al Youm Al Saba.

“The defence counsel will lodge an appeal with the Court of Cassation against these sentences,” he added, referring to Egypt’s top appeals court.

The rulings were issued two days after 183 followers of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood were condemned to death after being found guilty of killing 11 policemen and ransacking a police station near Cairo in the unrest that followed the army’s 2013 overthrow of Islamist president Mohammad Mursi.