MOSCOW, November 29 - RAPSI. The Cairo Criminal Court has handed down a death sentence to six Egyptian Coptic Christians and U.S. pastor Terry Jones, who were accused of creating and distributing the anti-Islamic film, "Innocence of Muslims," the court told journalists on Wednesday.

The court has passed the ruling in absentia, as neither the defendants nor their attorneys took part in the hearing. The court ruling, as all rulings on death penalties in Egypt, will be passed for consideration to the Grand Mufti. The final announcement of the sentence has been set for January 29, 2013.The Coptic Christians, who left Egypt for the United States where they now reside, took part in making the film.

In late September, the Egyptian Prosecutor General's Office opened the case against the men. They were accused of showing disrespect toward the Islamic religion, desecrating the name of Muhammad, humiliating Muslims and inciting interreligious hatred in Egypt.

The office requested the United States to extradite them to Egypt for court proceedings.

On September 8, the trailer for a low-grade and almost universally unknown film aimed at discrediting Islam was aired by an Egyptian television network. The footage had been uploaded in June, but attracted little attention prior to its televised debut. The trailer, which depicts the Prophet Mohamed as a pervert, evoked a rage that soon boiled over into anti-American protests staged at U.S. embassies and consulates in Egypt and Libya.

The United States is strengthening the security of its diplomatic staff in countries where they could be subject to attack, while a number of nations have blocked access to the film. Meanwhile, Google has only honored requests to remove clips of the film from its video-hosting services in certain countries based on government requests.