CAIRO, May 7 (Aswat Masriya) - Egypt’s Court of Cassation rejected on Saturday a request by prominent political activist Ahmed Douma to suspend the life imprisonment sentence he had been handed on charges of illegal assembly and attacking security forces in clashes that took place in 2011.

This means that Douma will continue to serve the sentence until the Court of Cassation, the highest judicial body in the Egyptian court system, looks into the appeal.

The case dates back to December 2011 when clashes broke out between protesters and security forces outside the cabinet's headquarters, leaving at least three people dead and 255 wounded. Egypt's Scientific Complex, located near the cabinet headquarters, was torched during the clashes.

Prosecution accused Douma and 268 others of illegal assembly, possession of weapons and Molotov cocktails, attacking the cabinet building and security personnel in December 2011, as well as torching the Scientific Institute in downtown Cairo.

Douma and 229 others were  sentenced to life in prison in Feb. 2015. Thirty-nine of the defendants received 10-year prison sentences in absentia; they are all juveniles.

The court however fined all 269 defendants EGP 17 million (around $1.9 million) for vandalism.

Douma’s lawyer filed an appeal against the verdict with the Court of Cassation in April 2015. 

The appeal demanded the suspension of the sentence and that it be referred to another court circuit. 

The Court of Cassation is yet to rule on the appeal.