More than 180 people have been sentenced to death in a single mass trial in Egypt, drawing outrage from human rights organisations.

The defendants were accused of being supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood and were charged with the killing of 11 police officers during a riot in 2013.

“Mass death sentences are fast losing Egypt’s judiciary whatever reputation for independence it once had,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East and North Africa director for Human Rights Watch.

“Instead of weighing the evidence against each person, judges are convicting defendants en masse without regard for fair trial standards.”

The ruling is the third mass death sentence to be handed out this year, and comes after 78 children were sentenced to between two and five years in prison on 26 November.

The minors were arrested for participating in protests organised by the Muslim Brotherhood and “calling for the downfall of the regime”, according to the state news agency MENA.