Egypt ex-MP gets jail for public indecency

AL Jazeera English Middle East

Salafist leader gets one year suspended sentence after police say they found him fondling woman in parked car. Last Modified: 21 Jul 2012 21:03

Wanees once sat in parliament as part of a Salafi-led coalition headed by the Nour Party [AFP]

An Egyptian court has sentenced a former MP to a year in prison for public indecency, after police said they found him fondling a woman on his lap in a parked car at night. Ali Wanees was sentenced on Saturday to a year in prison for the incident and six months for abusing the policemen, while the woman involved got a six month jail term. Police said in a report that the man was touching and caressing the woman when they approached him while parked alongside an agricultural road outside Cairo last month. Wanees has denied the charges, saying that he pulled the car over to assist his ill niece. Police claim that he is not her uncle. The police report claims Wanees called the officers "sons of dogs" when they knocked on his window asking to see his license and registration. Wanees' whereabouts are unknown and he was tried in absentia and is allowed a retrial. The court sentenced the woman he was with, who has been in custody for about a month, to six months in jail. She also has the right to appeal. Wanees once sat in parliament as part of a Salafi-led coalition headed by the Nour Party, which won 25 per cent of seats in the lower house before it was dissolved late last month. Earlier in the year, the Nour Party was forced to issue an embarrassing and apologetic statement after one of their lawmakers was reported to have lied to cover up a nose job, claiming that he sustained injuries to his heavily bandaged face from a carjacking and beating. He was kicked out of the party and resigned from parliament. Source: Agencies