A misdemeanour court on Saturday fined Islamist politician Essam Sultan LE15,000 on charges of slandering former presidential candidate Ahmed Shafiq. Sultan, a leading figure in the Wasat Party who is in prison facing a number of charges, is accused of using his Facebook account and media interviews to accuse Shafiq, a prime minister during Hosni Mubarak's presidency, of corruption without proper proof. He allegedly accused Shafiq of involvement in corruption under Mubarak and of smuggling money outside the country for the ousted president's family and for Egyptian businessmen. Sultan, who has been in detention since last July, is also being prosecuted on charges of inciting violence at a protest camp by supporters of Mohamed Morsi last summer, which led to the alleged death of three people by torture. He is also accused of calling on Islamists to torch state institutions in the eastern Cairo district of Nasr City, where the camp was based. Since Morsi's ouster, Egypt's interim authorities have launched a sustained crackdown on his Brotherhood movement. Thousands have been jailed and hundreds killed during the dispersal of demonstrations and protests. Source : Ahram online
