Egypt Jails Pro-Morsi Judge For 'Protesting'

Egypt's attorney-general on Monday jailed a judge for 15 days for staging a protest in support of ousted President Mohamed Morsi.



In a statement, attorney-general Hesham Barakat said he ordered Hassan al-Naggar, a senior judge at the Cassation Court and a former governor of the Nile Delta province of Sharqiya under Morsi, be jailed for 15 days on charges of staging a protest and blocking a road in Cairo.



Al-Naggar and several other protesters were detained outside a shopping mall in eastern Cairo.



According to the statement, protesters blocked the road and chanted slogans critical of the army.



The statement said that al-Naggar turned out to be a member of the pro-Morsi "Judges for Egypt" movement.



Egyptian authorities have been cracking down hard on Morsi's backers since his ouster by the military in mid-2013.



Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood movement was also designated as a "terrorist organization" in late 2013.



Morsi himself is standing trial on multiple charges, including espionage and jailbreak.



www.aa.com.tr/en - Kahire