Egypt: Islamist ex-MP convicted for 'indecent act'

Egypt: Islamist ex-MP convicted for `indecent act` Cairo: A radical Islamist politician in Egypt has been convicted for violating public decency after police found him involved with a woman in a car.

According to The BBC, Ali Wanis was sentenced to a year’s imprisonment for the act and six months for abusing the policemen. The woman involved with Wanis got a six-month-jail term.

Wanis became an MP for the Salafist Nour party earlier this year, but Parliament was dissolved in June after a court said the election was invalid.

Police officers told the Misdemeanour Court in Tukh, outside Cairo, that they had found Wanis caressing a fully veiled woman student, who was sitting on his lap in his car while it was parked on an agricultural road near the town last month.

When they knocked on his window asking to see his driving licence and car registration, the Islamist called them "sons of dogs", they added.

Wanis denied violating public decency, claiming that was caring his ill niece.

The court found Wanis guilty of committing an obscene act on a main road and contempt of police, and sentenced him to jail. The Islamist, whose whereabouts are unknown, was tried in absentia and is allowed a retrial. The woman, who has been in custody for about a month, has the right to appeal.