(VOVworld)- Cairo Criminal Court confirmed Saturday a preliminary death sentence against two men for "joining a militant organisation" in a trial known in the media as "The returnees from Libya" case.

The court also sentenced four individuals to life in prison, and seven individuals to three-year prison terms, one individual to 15 years in prison, and acquitted two others.  In October, the court issued a preliminary death sentence against the two, pending the non-binding consultative opinion of the country’s grand mufti, as per Egypt's penal code. The sentences can still be appealed before the Criminal Appeals Court. In February 2015, Egypt's prosecutor general referred 16 people arrested on the Egyptian-Libyan border to criminal trial, accusing them of involvement in terrorist acts outside Egypt and planning to attack buildings and properties inside the country. Egypt launched a strike against Islamic State militants in Libya in February 2015 in retaliation against the killing of 21 Egyptian Copts by the radical group.