Egypt court sentences Morsi ally to year in prison

Ultraconservative Islamist Hazem Salah Abu-Ismail to be jailed for insulting judiciary in trial

Egyptian Muslim cleric Hazem Salah Abu-Ismail. (photo credit: AP/Amr Nabil)
Egyptian Muslim cleric Hazem Salah Abu-Ismail. (photo credit: AP/Amr Nabil)

A court in Egypt has sentenced an ultraconservative Islamist who is an ally of ousted President Mohammed Morsi to one year in prison for insulting the judiciary during his trial.

Saturday’s verdict is the second one-year sentence Hazem Salah Abu-Ismail has received on similar charges. Judge Mohammed Sherine Fahmy gave him one in January for contempt of the court.

Abu-Ismail, a former presidential hopeful, is being tried for allegedly concealing the fact his mother was a US citizen in order to qualify for the 2012 presidential election. The law bars anyone whose parents hold any other nationality from running.

On Saturday, Abu-Ismail mocked the trial, saying his court-appointed lawyer was biased. Fahmy expelled him from court before the ruling. A verdict on the original charge will be announced April 16.

Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

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