Ousted Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak has received a sentence of life in prison for complicity in the killing of hundreds of anti-government protesters during last year's uprising that forced him from power.

The sentence was handed down Saturday in a court set up at a police academy on Cairo's outskirts.

The prosecutor had sought the death penalty for Mubarak.

Hundreds of police were posted outside the courthouse.

The former president's trial began in August of last year.