CAIRO, Jan 6 (Aswat Masriya) Egypt's Court of Cassation accepted on Thursday appeals by the prosecution and defendants in the 2012 Port Said football massacre case and ordered a retrial.

The court rejected the appeals of eight defendants on procedural grounds, as they are still being retried after they have received verdicts in absentia before turn themselves in.

In January 2013, a Port Said criminal court gave death sentences to 21 local people in connection with a stadium riot in which more than 70 died.

The football stadium deaths occurred in February 2012 at the end of a match between Cairo's Al Ahly and al-Masry.

Violence erupted in the city following the verdict as thousands of people besieged Port Said's prison. At least 40 people were killed in clashes.