The public prosecutor decided to remand under custody the preacher Ahmad ‘Abdullah, more commonly known as Abū Islām, for four days pending investigation in the case of religious defamation. According to Councilor Kamāl Mukhtār, there are two accusations against Abū Islām, namely exploitation of religion to incite sectarian strife and defamation of religions. Abū Islām confessed to having referred to Christian women participating in protests as prostitutes. However, he explained that he did not mean Egyptian Christian women, but European and American Christian women.
Dozens of Abū Islām’s supporters from different Islamist streams gathered outside the court to protest the investigation. A few protesters succeeded in entering the building and attacked an editor from al-Watan. A number of other supporters tried, unsuccessfully, to attack the courthouse. They then split up into groups and barricaded all the doors, obstructing the vehicle transporting Abū Islām to prison.
Police strengthened their presence in and around the courthouse to secure the area in case of any attempted assault following the verdict (al-Walīd Ismā’īl, al-Akhbār, al-Shurūq al-Jadīd, al-Watan, February 24, p. 3). Read original text in Arabic.
