MINYA, Egypt (AFP) - An Egyptian court on Saturday confirmed death sentences for 183 Islamists, including Muslim Brotherhood chief Mohamed Badie, a prosecutor said, after a speedy mass trial that sparked an international outcry.

The court in the central city of Minya had initially sentenced 683 people to death, but on Saturday, it commuted death sentences of four to life in prison, including two women, and acquitted 496 other defendants.

Since the army ousted Islamist president Mohamed Mursi in July last year, hundreds of his supporters and Badie himself have been sentenced to death in trials that have been criticised by Egyptian and global human rights bodies.