Egypt Brotherhood leader jailed for prosecutor insult

An Egyptian court on Saturday sentenced an Islamist leader on trial for murderalongside deposed president Mohamed Morsi to a year in jail for insulting aprosecutor, judicial sources said.Top Muslim Brotherhood member Mohammed al-Beltagui and Morsi were both incourt Saturday accused of inciting the killing of opposition protesters outside thepresidential palace in Cairo in December 2012.Their trial is part of a relentless crackdown targeting Morsi and the Brotherhoodsince the military ousted him on July 3, ending a turbulent single year in office.The sources said Beltagui, who is currently in custody along with scores of otherBrotherhood leaders, was condemned for "insulting" a prosecutor during Saturday'shearing, but without elaborating.It is the first time a senior member of the Brotherhood has been given a jailsentence since Morsi's ouster.Beltagui's lawyer Mohammed Abu Leila told AFP that such sentences cannot beappealed.Both Morsi and Beltagui are also on trial in two other cases on jailbreak andespionage charges.If found guilty, the defendants could face the death penalty.They are accused of organising jailbreaks and attacking police stations during the2011 uprising that toppled autocratic president Hosni MubarakProsecutors allege the attacks on police stations and the jailbreaks, in which Morsiand other political prisoners escaped, were a Brotherhood-led conspiracy to sowchaos.In the espionage trial, Morsi and 35 others are accused of conspiring with foreignpowers, the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas and Shiite Iran to destabilise Egypt.A police crackdown on Morsi supporters has killed more than 1,400 people,according to rights group Amnesty International.More than 15,000 Islamists, mostly from the Brotherhood, have also been jailed, andhundreds have been sentenced to death after often speedy trials. Source: AFP