World Bulletin/News Desk

A court on Wednesday slapped 26 people with the death penalty after convicting them of forming a "terrorist cell" that targeted Egypt's strategic Suez Canal, judicial sources said.

The court sentenced 26 out 27 defendants in the case to death. Legal sources told Anadolu Agency that the verdict is still subject to appeal.

All the defendants were tried in absentia, the sources said, adding that defense lawyers had not attended the session.

Investigations of the defendants began in February 2013. They were later released pending trial.

The defendants were charged with threatening national security by establishing a "terrorist cell" that sought to target ships passing through the canal, which is vital to international shipping.

The defendants, the source said, are not linked to the Muslim Brotherhood, which the government has blamed for a series of deadly bombings since last July's ouster of president Mohamed Morsi – a Brotherhood leader – by the army.