Egyptian poet gets 3 years for insulting security forces

CAIRO — A rights lawyer says an Egyptian military court has sentenced a poet to three years in prison for insulting the country’s security forces.

The lawyer, Mokhtar Mounir, said Tuesday that Galal el-Beheiri was also convicted of “disseminating false news.”

The verdict can be appealed.

El-Beheiri was arrested in March after he wrote a collection of poems entitled “The Best Women on Earth,” a play on a saying attributed to the Prophet Muhammad that Egypt was the birthplace of “the best soldiers on earth.”