Egyptian rights activist fined over ‘insulting’ online posts

An Egyptian court yesterday fined prominent human rights activist Hossam Bahgat for "insulting" the country's electoral commission on social media, a judicial source said.

Bahgat, founder of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, was fined 10,000 pounds ($635) after he alleged incidents of electoral fraud during last year's parliamentary elections, in tweets and Facebook posts.

Parliament is mostly comprised of loyalists of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and critics view the chamber as a "rubber-stamp" body.

Since Sisi became president in 2014 following the military overthrow of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi the year before, he has overseen a sweeping crackdown on dissent with estimates of 60,000 political prisoners jailed.