A court of first instance in Sudan issued a verdict on Thursday whereby 29 Egyptian fishermen and seamen will pay a fine of 5,000 Sudanese pounds each.

They had been detained in Port Sudan on charges of violating the country's territorial waters.

According to the court verdict, the convicts will spend two years in prison in case of failure to pay the fine, but the ship captain will pay a fine of 10,000 Sudanese pounds and he will spend two years in prison if he fails to pay the fine.

The court will consider the case of trying another 35 Egyptian fishermen on the same charges.

Egypt's Ambassador in Sudan Osama Shaltout told MENA correspondent in Khartoum that the lawyer entrusted with following up the case will challenge the verdict against the fishermen who are treated well in the Sudanese jail.

He said the Sudanese authorities recently released six children and an old man detained with the fishermen and they were deported home.