Egypt’s Court of Cassation upheld on Saturday a five-year prison sentence for former presidential candidate Hazem Salah Abu Ismail for being accused of inciting the besieging of a Nasr City Court and the use of violence against prosecutors.
The court also upheld the five-year terms of five other defendants convicted in the case, rejecting the appeal presented by them and the Salafist leader.
In 2017, a Cairo court sentenced Abu Ismail and others to prison terms following convictions for inciting the besieging of a Nasr City Court in December 2012, the use of violence against prosecutors, and preventing state employees from carrying out their duties.
The events took place when Abu Ismail, a popular figure among Salafists, gathered his supporters and surrounded the court where some of his followers were facing trial.
He is currently serving a seven-year term, which was upheld in 2014, for fabricating the documents he submitted to run as a candidate in the 2012 presidential elections.
The once-popular TV preacher and prominent supporter of currently banned Muslim Brotherhood was convicted of faking documents to hide that his mother has a United States citizenship, in order to qualify him for the election.
He has also been given two separate one-year jail terms for insulting the judiciary and contempt of court, offences which occurred during his trials. Abu Ismail was arrested a few days after the ouster of Egypt’s Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in July 2013.
