‘A criminal court in Egypt has sentenced 26 people to death on charges of staging a “terror group” in an attempt to target the ships passing through the strategic Suez Canal, official sources say.

Egyptian judicial sources said on Wednesday the defendants received death sentences for “founding and leading a terror group that aimed to attack” the vessels passing through the Suez Canal, a major shipping route.

According to the sources, Egyptian prosecutors also accused the men of manufacturing rockets and explosives. The defendants, who were tried in absentia, were charged while in custody.’

Read more: Egypt court sentences 26 to death for ‘Suez plot’