By Emir Nader

An Egyptian court handed out a three year prison sentence to a man accused of contempt of Islam and insulting the divine, on Saturday.

Karim Ashraf Mohammed Al-Banna was tried by a court in the industrial town of Idku, in the Delta governorate of Beheira.

The Idku District Misdemeanor Court allowed Al-Banna a bail of EGP 1,000 to suspend the prison time.

He is accused of using his Facebook account to publish articles that “belittle the divine”, according to the rights group Association for Freedom of Thought and Expression (AFTE).

Ishaq Ibrahim, a researcher on freedom of religion and belief at the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR), told Daily News Egypt that Al-Banna declared his atheism on Facebook and subsequently was harassed in public. Upon seeking to file a report of the assault at a police department in Idku, Al-Banna was arrested.

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