Egyptian opposition politician Kassem begins hunger strike

Egyptian opposition leader Hisham Kassem has begun a hunger strike while he stands trial on slander and verbal assault charges, his lawyer said on Saturday.
The publisher had been charged last month with slander of a former minister, then later also charged with verbally assaulting officers at a police station after he was brought in, charges his allies say are politically motivated.
The arrest of Kassem, who previously published the newspaper Al-Masry Al-Youm, came after he made sharp criticisms of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and founded a liberal coalition called al-Tayar al-Hurr, or Free Current Movement, which has said it could field a candidate in upcoming elections.
While economic troubles have stirred some discontent among many Egyptians, the coalition is not seen as posing a major threat to Sisi, who is expected to run for his third term in elections early next year.