CAIRO, Dec. 3 (Aswat Masriya) - The Court of Cassation accepted an appeal submitted by the Muslim Brotherhood's Supreme Guide Mohamed Badie and 37 others sentenced to death and life imprisonement in what is known as the Rabaa al-Adaweya "operations room" case.

The court ordered a retrial for all the defendants before another court. However it dismissed appeals by two defendants who are at large because an appeal requires defendants to be present.

Badie and 50 others are accused of running an "operations room ... to direct the Muslim Brotherhood group to resist the state during the Rabaa [Al-Adaweya] sit-in dispersal."

They were also accused of "spreading chaos" following Rabaa's dispersal and attempting to break into and set ablaze police stations, private property and churches.

The sit-in at Rabaa Al-Adaweya was in support of elected Muslim Brotherhood President Mohamed Mursi who was ousted by the military in July 2013 following protests against his rule. It was one of two large sit-ins which were violently dispersed by security forces leaving at least 1,000 people dead in what Human Rights Watch has described as "likely amounted to crimes against humanity".

Since Mursi's ouster, authorities have led a crackdown on Muslim Brotherhood leaders and prominent figures, who have often found themselves behind bars or facing court cases with little due process.

Last April, the Cairo Criminal Court handed Badie and 13 others death sentences and 26 others life imprisonment.

In June, Mursi himself was sentenced to death for "escaping" from Wadi al-Natroun prison during the January 2011 uprising, when he was illegally detained.