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An Edmonton doctor convicted of sexually assaulting a nurse and physically assaulting a manager at a different clinic was sentenced to 30 days in jail Wednesday.

However, Dr. Ismail Taher, 38, was allowed to serve the sentence on an intermittent basis on weekends.

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Provincial court Judge Greg Lepp rejected a defence pitch for probation, saying “a lesson needs to be learned by Dr. Taher” and a jail sentence was required.

“He abused the position he earned for selfish, prurient and unwholesome reasons,” said Lepp. “He had no excuse.”

The judge also put Taher, a married father of four daughters, on probation for two years following his release and ordered that he be placed on the national sex offender registry for life.

The Libya-born doctor, who is also facing sanctions from the College of Physicians and Surgeons and is currently not seeing patients, had been charged with two counts of sexual assault relating to separate incidents involving the two clinic staff members.

However, it was ruled on June 2 that the Crown had not proven the August 2013 allegation involving a Medicentre manager beyond a reasonable doubt and Taher was convicted of the lesser offence of common assault.

Regarding the sexual assault conviction, it was ruled that Taher twice sexually assaulted a nurse at a north-side clinic in June 2013, the first time by touching her breast and the second by grabbing her breast and then pinching her backside.