CAIRO- An Egyptian court on Monday acquitted Irish citizen Ibrahim Halawa and his three sisters of charges including murder in a mass trial that has been going on for over four years, during which he was in jail.

Halawa was part of a trial in which nearly 500 people were charged with, among other crimes, breaking into a mosque, killing 44 people, including a policeman, and illegal possession of firearms in violence that followed the military's ouster of former Islamist president Mohamed Mursi in 2013.

(Reporting by Haitham Ahmed; Writing by Ahmed Aboulenein; Editing by Patrick Markey) ((ahmed.aboulenein@thomsonreuters.com; +20 2 2394 8097; Reuters Messaging: ahmed.aboulenein.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))