CAIRO, Oct 27 (Aswat Masriya) – A Cairo misdemeanour court reduced on Monday prison sentences served to 13 al-Azhar University students from three years to a year's labour.

Arrested during protests staged last December, the students were charged with protesting without a notice, inciting riots, assembly and vandalism. They were initially sentenced to three years and ordered to pay a 30 thousand Egyptian-pound fine.

University campuses have witnessed unprecedented violence throughout the past academic year, with at least 16 students killed amid on-campus protests, according to the Association for Freedom of Thought and Expression's Student Observatory.

The pro-Mohamed Mursi "Students against the coup" movement has been organising protests against the former Islamist president's military ouster throughout the past academic year as well as this year. Protests have often devolved into clashes with security forces.