September
5, 2000
From the newsroom of the BBC World Service
A court in Egypt has sentenced a woman to five years in jail for denigrating Islam.
The woman, Sheikha Manal, who said she was the leader of a Sufi sect, was found guilty of provoking civil unrest by claiming she was a prophet, and of exploiting Islam to propagate extremist ideas.
The court said she had claimed to have visions of a deceased Sufi leader who she said had given instructions to her followers to ignore the basic Islamic tenets of daily prayer and the pilgrimage to Mecca.
Sufis are Muslim mystics who are traditionally frowned upon by the orthodox religious establishment. Several members of her sect were also sentenced up to three years in prison.
