Hazem Salah Abou Ismail (Photo: Ahram Online)
An Egyptian court sentenced prominent Salafist and former presidential candidate Hazem Salah Abu Ismail to five years in prison on Sunday in charges related to violence outside a court in 2012.
Abu Ismail was convicted of inciting the besieging of Nasr City court and the use of violence against prosecutors, and preventing state employees from carrying out their duties.
The events occurred in December 2012, when Abu Ismail, a popular figure among hardline Salafists, marshalled his supporters to surround a court where some of his followers were being tried.
The court on Sunday sentenced 11 of the defendants to 10 years in prison and six others besides Abu Ismail to five years in prison.
Abu Ismail is currently serving a seven-year sentence which was finalised in 2014 on a conviction of forging the documents he submitted to run as a candidate in the 2012 presidential election.
The once-popular TV preacher and prominent supporter of the now-banned Muslim Brotherhood was convicted of forging documents to conceal his late mother's US citizenship, an action that led to him being disqualified from the race.
Authorities arrested Abu Ismail days after the ouster of Egypt's president Mohamed Morsi in July 2013.
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