Egyptians in their hundreds began gathering Tuesday in Cairo's iconic Tahrir Square ahead of a mass demonstration to protest against verdicts handed down in ex-president Hosni Mubarak's murder trial.

Hawkers selling tea, cakes or flags took up positions at the square in downtown Cairo, which was closed to traffic for the 1500 GMT demonstration called by Egyptian activists furious at the verdicts.

Egyptian politicians, including three of the losing candidates in the first round of the presidential election, joined forces on Monday with youth groups demanding the suspension of a second-round runoff.

The joint call is aimed at putting pressure on election frontrunner Ahmed Shafiq, a former Hosni Mubarak premier, who is due to square off against Muslim Brotherhood candidate Mohammed Mursi on June 16-17.

Egypt's ex-strongman Hosni Mubarak was issued regulation blue prison uniform on Sunday a day after being sentenced to life and taken to a jail that once housed his opponents, official media reported.

The state news agency MENA reported that guards in the Cairo Tora prison took his official jail photograph and supplied him with his prisoner number.

Egypt's state prosecutor will appeal verdicts by a court that sentenced Hosni Mubarak and his interior minister to life but acquitted his sons and police commanders, the prosecutor's office said on Sunday.

"The state prosecutor has ordered the start of the appeals procedure," a source in his office said, of Saturday's verdicts which sparked protests in several cities across Egypt.

Thousands of angry demonstrators took to the streets across Egypt on Saturday after ex-president Hosni Mubarak and his security chief were jailed and six police chiefs acquitted over last year's deaths of protesters.

Judge Ahmed Refaat sentenced the 84-year-old former leader and his interior minister Habib al-Adly to life for their role in the deaths of protesters during the revolt that ousted them, but acquitted the six security commanders on the same charges.

The Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood's presidential candidate on Saturday denounced the verdicts in ousted dictator Hosni Mubarak's trial as a "farce" and demanded a retrial, in a statement on Twitter.

"Dr. Mohammed Moursi, the presidential candidate, describes the verdict as 'a farce' and demands a retrial with the necessary evidence for a just punishment," the Brotherhood said on its official Twitter account.

A judge sentenced former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak to life in prison on Saturday after convicting him of involvement in the murder of protesters during the uprising that ousted him last year.

A senior lawyer for Mubarak's defence team told Agence France Presse the strongman, who was taken to a Cairo prison after the hearing, will appeal the sentence.

Two American tourists kidnapped in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula by Bedouin tribesman were released on Thursday after less than 24 hours in captivity, security and government officials told Agence France Presse.

The two men were in good health and police were escorting them to a safe place, where they were due to meet the South Sinai governor, the officials said.

Egypt's decades-long state of emergency came to an end on Thursday after its last renewal expired, the ruling military said in a statement, vowing to continue to "protect" the nation.

The military will continue its "national and historic responsibility, taking into account that the state of emergency has ended, in accordance with the constitutional declaration and with the law," it said.

Two U.S. tourists have been kidnapped in Egypt's Sinai peninsula by Bedouins protesting the arrest of one of their tribesmen on a drugs charge, a security official said on Thursday.

The tourists were abducted late on Wednesday near the resort of Dahab on the Red Sea, the official said, adding that talks were under way in a bid to secure their release.