A Coptic Egyptian boy was sentenced to prison on Wednesday for disparaging Islam and its founder, the Prophet Muhammad.
Gamal Abdou Massoud, 17, was sentenced to 3 years in prison by a court in the southern city of Assiout for posting cartoons mocking Islam and the Prophet Muhammad on his Facebook page last December, Reuters news agency reported.
A human rights lawyer told the news agency that 3 years was the maximum penalty under Egyptian law for the crime of insulting Islam, but on the same day an appellant court in Assiout ratified a 6-year prison sentence against a Coptic school secretary, Makarem Diab Said, for the same offence, independent daily Al-Masry Al-Youm reported Wednesday.
A brawl erupted between Muslim and Coptic lawyers during the court sitting last month when the sentence was first announced, the daily added.
Tensions between Copts and Muslims have intensified since early 2011 when a bomb killed 21 worshipers in an Alexandria church on New Year’s Eve. Legal limitations on the construction of churches have also added to the Coptic sense of religious persecution. Christians comprise 10% of Egypt’s estimated population of 80 million.
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