Cairo: An Egyptian court on Thursday sentenced a son of deposed Islamist president Mohammad Mursi to three years in prison on charges of illegally possessing a weapon, legal sources said.

Osama Mursi, a lawyer, was arrested last December in his Delta hometown of Zaqaziq for inciting violence in a case related to an unlawful sit-in staged by his father’s backers in Cairo in 2013. During his arrest, he had a knife in his possession, police said.

Thursday’s ruling was issued by the Zaqaziq Misdemeanour Court that held its session at a makeshift courtroom in a police institution in Cairo, the sources added.

The verdict can be appealed.

In mid-2013, the army toppled Mohammad Mursi following enormous street protests against his one-year rule.

Mursi, who hails from the now-outlawed Muslim Brotherhood, has since been tried in connection with different cases.

Last month, Egypt’s highest appeals court upheld a 25-year jail sentence against Mursi on charges of jeopardising national security by leaking secret state documents to allied Qatar when he was in office.

Another court is expected in late December to deliver a ruling in a case involving Mursi on charges of insulting the judiciary.