UPDATE - Egypt sentences 28 to death over prosecutor's death

*UPDATES WITH MORE DETAILS

By Sayed Fathi and Mustafa Eid

CAIRO (AA) – An Egyptian court on Saturday sentenced 28 people to death in connection with the 2015 assassination of the country's prosecutor-general, according to a local judicial source.

Prosecutor-general Hisham Barakat was killed in a car bomb attack on his convoy in eastern Cairo in June 2015.

Egyptian authorities have put 67 people on trial on charges of plotting the killing and membership with the Muslim Brotherhood, which the government blacklisted in 2013.

In its verdict on Saturday, Cairo Criminal Court slapped 28 defendants with death sentences each, the source said on condition of anonymity because he was unauthorized to speak to media.

The court also jailed 15 defendants for life each, eight for 15 years and 15 for ten years in jail, the source said.

One of the defendants had died during trial proceedings, the source said.

Saturday's verdicts are still subject to appeal.

Egyptian authorities have accused the Muslim Brotherhood and Palestinian group Hamas of involvement in the attack, an accusation vehemently denied by both groups.

Egypt was roiled by turmoil when the military deposed Mohamed Morsi, the country's first freely elected president, in a 2013 coup.

Barakat was the highest official to have been killed in a militant attack since 2013.