CAIRO, June 2 (Aswat Masriya) An Egyptian court sentenced on Monday 28 defendants to life sentence and 15 to three years on charges of violating the country's controversial protest law.

The accused staged a protest in Fayoum, 62 miles southwest of Cairo, against the trial of ousted President Mohamed Mursi on his first hearing session last November.

They are accused of terrorising citizens, disrupting public peace, possessing weapons, assaulting public and private property and belonging to the banned Muslim Brotherhood.

The Islamist president was ousted by the army in July following mass demonstrations against his rule.

Egypt's interim government declared the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organization last December.