CAIRO – The lawyer for Egyptian novelist Ahmed Naji, who is imprisoned for violating public modesty, says a court has ordered his client's two-year sentence suspended pending review of his appeal.
Lawyer Mahmoud Othman tells The Associated Press on Sunday that Naji is expected to be released following the ruling of a Cairo Court of Cassation.
Naji was initially acquitted of the charge that he published a sexually explicit excerpt of a novel he authored which prosecutors said violated public modesty.
His acquittal was appealed by prosecutors and a higher court in February sentenced him to two years in prison.
That ruling was decried as part of a government crackdown on freedom of speech and expression.
Othman says the court will review Naji's appeal on Jan. 1.
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