An Egyptian farmer has been jailed for a year for naming his donkey after the country’s former military chief who is running for president.
Omar Abul Maged was accused of ‘humiliating the military’ for calling his animal Sisi after Abdel Fatah al-Sisi who led the overthrow of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi.
Maged, 31, put a military-style cap on his donkey, covered it with a poster of al-Sisi and rode it through his village in protest against the decision to oust Morsi last summer.
Police arrested Maged in September and, after spending six months in custody, was convicted by the Qena Misdemeanor Court on Sunday.
Human rights groups have hit out at the sentence.
Andalus Center for Tolerance and Anti-Violence Studies told the Egypt Independent that it ‘raises doubts about the fairness of the judiciary system in Egypt’.
The conviction comes after the judiciary last week sentenced 529 pro-Morsi Muslim Brotherhood defendants to death in a massive crackdown on government dissenters.