An Egyptian court on Sunday sentenced three activists who spearheaded the 2011 uprising against Hosni Mubarak to three years in jail for organizing an unlicensed protest, judicial sources said.

It was the first such verdict against non-Islamist protesters since the overthrow of president Mohammed Morsi in July and was seen by rights groups as part of a widening crackdown on demonstrations by military-installed authorities.

Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir has expressed concern about instability in neighboring South Sudan and other volatile states in the region, official media reported Sunday.

Bashir "expressed his concern about what is going on in South Sudan, Central African Republic, Libya and Egypt,” the state SUNA news agency reported.

Egypt's deposed President Mohammed Morsi and 132 others, including members of Hamas, will stand trial for a prison break and the murder of officers during the 2011 uprising, the prosecution said on Saturday.

Almost 70 of the defendants are members of Hamas and Hizbullah, the Palestinian and Lebanese groups, who will be tried in absentia.

Two Egyptian soldiers were shot dead Friday trying to arrest a leader of an al-Qaida inspired group spearheading an insurgency in the Sinai, the military said.

Elsewhere, police arrested 85 Islamist protesters as they dispersed rallies demanding the reinstatement of ousted president Mohammed Morsi, the interior ministry said.

Police in Egypt said an Islamist militant blew himself up in his hideout to escape arrest on Thursday, wounding an officer in the process.

The militant had been holed up in a north Cairo apartment when police raided the building and he set off the explosives when surrounded, police said.

A Saudi appeals court has upheld jail and lashes for an Egyptian lawyer whose arrest on drug trafficking charges last year sparked a row with Cairo, a newspaper said Thursday.

The five-year sentence and 300 lashes meted out by a Jeddah court against Ahmed al-Gizawi are now final, Okaz daily said, adding that the execution of the lashing sentence will begin "within a month."

Egyptian police arrested a leading secular activist wanted for trial in a raid on the office of a rights group in Cairo, the NGO said Thursday.

Police had arrested five people at the office during a raid Wednesday night, but released all but activist Mohamed Adel hours later.

An Egyptian official has resigned amid controversy over a poster to promote a new draft constitution that featured images of non-Egyptians and misspelled "Egyptians" in Arabic, state media reported Wednesday.

Amgad Abdel Ghaffar, head of the State Information Service, the government's media arm, had already apologized for the poster, which featured Caucasian-looking images under the caption: "All Egyptians Constitution."

Egypt's deposed president Mohammed Morsi and former aides will stand trial for "espionage" that aided a "terrorist" campaign involving the Palestinian militant Hamas and jihadist groups, state media reported Wednesday.

Morsi, an Islamist who the military toppled in July after a single year of turbulent rule, is already on trial over alleged involvement in the killings of opposition protesters.

An Egyptian court will try 23 Islamists under a newly passed law banning unauthorized demonstrations, a judicial source said Tuesday.

Supporters of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi, ousted and arrested by the military in July, regularly hold demonstrations around the country calling for his return.