North Cairo Court sentenced a controversial Salafi preacher to three years in prison on Monday.
Ahmed Mohamed Abdallah, better known as Abu Islam, faces three years in prison and a LE10,000 fine for insulting Christianity.
Abu Islam’s defence lawyer, Khaled Nour Eddin, had submitted five CDs of the defendant's TV show on Al-Umma satellite channel to demonstrate that parts of Abu Islam’s shows were taken out of their full context.
Nour Eddin claimed that Abu Islam’s broadcasted statements had not attacked Christianity.
Instead Abu Islam had advised Egyptian Christians to stick to the tolerant teachings of the Bible, the defence claimed.
The court had earlier released the defendant during hearing sessions on LE20,000 bail.
A report filed by Naguib Gabriel, the head of the Egyptian Union of Human Rights, and a group of activists accused Abu Islam of insulting the Christian religion, and insulting Coptic women by calling them “whores.”
The Salafi preacher was referred for investigation in February.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
