World Bulletin/News Desk

An Egyptian court on Tuesday sentenced a politician who backs ousted president Mohamed Morsi to one year in jail for "insulting Egypt's judiciary," a judicial source has said.

According to the source, Essam Sultan, deputy leader of the Wasat Party, was found guilty of "insulting" judges presiding over another trial in which he is charged with committing acts of violence and belonging to an outlawed group.

Sultan's lawyer, Ahmed Madi, told Anadolu Agency that he planned to appeal the ruling, which he described as "arbitrary."

Narrating what happened at Tuesday's court session, Madi said that Sultan had engaged in a spat with the presiding judge after the latter rebuked him for greeting those in attendance.

Madi said that Sultan, a lawyer by profession, had defended himself in court on Tuesday and challenged the legality of the trial, which he described as "politically motivated."

"The court espoused the prosecution's argument that Sultan deserved the toughest penalty and therefore decided to slap him with a year in jail," Madi added.

Sultan, a former lawmaker, was arrested shortly after Morsi's ouster last year and charged with assaulting policemen.

Since the army ousted Morsi in July of last year, Egypt's military-backed government has waged a harsh crackdown on dissent that has left hundreds of its opponents dead and thousands behind bars.