Egypt arrests satirist over ‘illegal group’

CAIRO: Egyptian prosecutors have detained a satirist known for his ribald humour on suspicion of joining an “illegal group”, his lawyer told AFP on Tuesday.

Islam Al Rifai, who has more than 70,000 followers on Twitter where he posts lewd jokes and pictures, was arrested last Thursday, his lawyer Jamal Eid said.

Prosecutors then charged him with belonging to an “illegal group”, the lawyer said.

It was not immediately clear what group prosecutors suspected him of joining.

Rifai’s arrest led to supporters launching Twitter hashtags reading in Arabic “Freedom for Khorm” and “Khorm is not a criminal”, a sexually suggestive alias he used that literally means “hole”.