Egypt jails 17 Islamists over violence, court besiege

An Egyptian court sentenced on Sunday 17 Islamists, including a former presidential hopeful, from five to 10 years in jail over inciting violence and besieging a court in late 2012.

Radical Islamist and former Salafist presidential hopeful, Hazem Salah Abu Islamil, and five of his loyalists were sentenced to five years while 11 fugitives were handed 10-year terms in absentia.

The 17 defendants have been facing charges of flexing muscles, inciting violence, besieging a court and intimidating prosecutors in December 2012 in an attempt to release a defendant in custody.

When allowed to speak outside the dock earlier in January, Salafist lawyer and cleric Abu Ismail said during a court session that he had nothing to do with the case and that his name was just inserted for political reasons.

The ex-presidential candidate is already serving a seven-year jail term over submitting misleading nomination documents for the 2012 presidential elections to hide his mother's U.S. citizenship.

Abu Ismail was arrested among thousands of Islamists following the mid-2013 military removal of former Islamist President Mohamed Morsi in response to mass protests against Morsi's one-year rule and his now-outlawed Muslim Brotherhood group.

Morsi himself is currently serving a recently-confirmed 20-year prison sentence over inciting clashes between his supporters and opponents outside the presidential palace in late 2012 that left 10 people dead. Endit