CAIRO, April 7 (Aswat Masriya) An Egyptian appeals court backed on Monday the sentencing of activists Ahmed Douma, Ahmed Maher and Mohamed Adel to three years in prison for November clashes over a new protest law. 

Violent confrontations between activists and the police erupted in November in demonstrations against the new law. 

The three pro-democracy activists were sentenced to three years and fined EGP 50,000 each in December on charges of assembling without permit and resisting and attacking the authorities near Abdeen Court. 

Douma rose as a prominent activist in the past three years while Ahmed Maher and Mohamed Adel are both members of the April 6 movement that played a significant role before and during the January 25 uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak. 

The movement also participated in demonstrations against the military council that ruled Egypt after Mubarak's downfall and in mass protests last year against Mohamed Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood.