Cairo, Egypt: An Egyptian court on Wednesday sentenced to life 230 activists from the 2011 revolt against Hosni Mubarak, including leading campaigner Ahmed Douma, judicial sources said.

Thirty-nine other defendants, all minors, were sentenced to 10 years in prison. All 269 defendants were convicted of taking part in clashes with security forces near Cairo's Tahrir Square in December 2011, the sources said. They were also found guilty of assaulting security forces and setting on fire government buildings.

A life sentence in Egypt is 25 years. The verdict, which can be appealed, is the harshest delivered so far against non-Islamist activists amid a government crackdown on opponents overseen by President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.

Hundreds of Islamist supporters of Mubarak's successor, Mohamed Morsi, have been sentenced to death after often speedy trials described by the United Nations as ‘unprecedented in recent history’.

Douma, 26, rose to prominence during the 2011 uprising that drove Mubarak from power and was also a key protest leader against Morsi. He is already serving three years for violating a law prohibiting protests without a permit, and was also given a three-year sentence at a previous hearing of the current trial for insulting the judiciary.

At a previous hearing, Judge Shehata had called for the prosecution to investigate five defence lawyers for insulting the judiciary.

Verdict against the revolution

Douma's brother Mohamed lashed out at the verdict. "It's an incredibly exaggerated sentence. It's a sentence against the revolution and shows personal hatred of the judge against the revolution and the activists," Mohamed told AFP. "This was expected of him."

In November, a court dropped murder charges against the ex-strongman. If he walks free it would spur accusations against Sisi that he is reviving the Mubarak era. Mubarak's sons Alaa and Gamal - symbols of corruption during their father's rule - have also been released pending a retrial, four years after they were arrest in the wake of the uprising.