An Islamist leader was sentenced Thursday to 15 years hard labor for threatening Egypt's stability and for violating Islam by marrying three sisters, court sources said.
Sayed al-Saftawy, 43, had also urged group members to follow his marital example, court sources said. Nine of them were sentenced to between one and 15 years of hard labor by the state security court.
The Islamic holy book, the Qoran, allows a man to have four wives as long as none of them are sisters. He can marry a wife's sister only if the wife dies.
Members of the unnamed and previously unknown group were found guilty of calling for the suspension of the constitution, the violation of civil liberties and for refusal to cooperate with state institutions.
Saftawy and his accomplices were arrested in October 1999 in the Giza district of Cairo and in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria - CAIRO (AFP)
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