Egyptian Coptic teens hit with jail sentence for contempt of Islam
The Copts are the largest Christian community in the Middle East, making up 10 percent of Egypt's population. By Filippo Monteforte (AFP/File)
Cairo (AFP) - An Egyptian court on Thursday sentenced three Coptic Christian teenagers to five years in jail for contempt of Islam after they appeared in a video reciting Muslim prayers.
A judge in the central Egyptian province of Minya also sent a fourth defendant, aged 15, to a juvenile detention centre.
Defence lawyer Maher Naguib said the four had not intended to insult Islam in the video, but merely to mock the beheadings carried out by jihadists of the Islamic State group.